/c3,  /^,  2  3 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,   N.  J. 

Presented  by 

Tine.  VY\c^ovv"  o-T  Greord'e'DtAoan, '^(^  . 

BV  4501  .W43  1911  , 

Weatherford,  Willis  D.  1875- 

1970. 
Introducing  men  to  Christ 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST 


BOOKS  BY  W.  D.  WEATHERFORD 


"Fundamental  Religious  Principles  in 

Browning's  Poetry."     $i.oo. 
SMITH  &  LAMAR,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 


'Negro  Life  in  the  South."     75  cents. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  PRESS,  New  York. 


INTRODUCING  MEN 
TO  CHRIST  ^"^^^^ 


1923 


FUNDAMENTAL  STUDIES 


W.  D.  WEATHERFORD,  Ph.D. 

Author  of  "  Fundamental  Religious  Principles  in  Browning's  Poetry' 
and  "Negro  Life  in  the  South" 


ASSOCIATION  PRESS 

124  EAST  28TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

1911 


^   i  ^  0 


Copyright,  igii 

BY 
SMITH   &  LAMAR 


Dedicated  to  the  Student  Secretaries  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciations, whoie  untiring  efforts  in  reporting  a  real  experi- 
ence are  leading  hundreds  of  college  men 
into  the  Christ-friendship. 


CONTENTS. 

PAQB 

Introduction    1 1 

STUDY  I.  Entrance  into  Christian  Life 15-29 

1.  What  Does  It  Mean  to  Be  a  Christian  ? 16 

2.  Forgiveness   18 

3.  Repentance    20 

4.  Faith    22 

5.  Association    24 

6.  Confession   26 

7.  Service    28 

STUDY  II.  What  Really  Happens  When  a  Man  Becomes 

A  Christian   31-4S 

1.  Conversion    32 

2.  Sense  of  Estrangement  Removed 34 

3.  Change  from  a  Self-Centered  to  a  God-Centered  Life...  36 

4.  A  New  Appreciation  of  the  Self 38 

5.  Unification   of   Personality    40 

6.  A  New  Spirit  of  Kindliness  toward  Men 42 

7.  A  New  Center  of  Loyalty 44 

STUDY  III.  The  Distinctive  Message  of  Christianity 47-61 

1.  The  God  of  the  Non-Christian  Religions 48 

2.  The  God  of  the  Non-Christian  Religions  (Continued)..  50 

3.  Valuation  of  Man  in  the  Non-Christian  Religions 52 

4.  Conception  of  Sin  in  the  Non-Christian  Religions 54 

5.  Standards  of  Morality  in  the  Non-Christian  Religions..  56 

6.  Conception  of  Salvation  in  Non-Christian  Religions 58 

7.  Do  the  Non-Christian  Religions   Satisfy? 60 

STUDY  IV.  The  Distinctr'e  Message  of  Christianity  (Con- 
tinued)       63-77 

1.  The  Christian's  Conception  of  God 64 

2.  Who  Is  Jesus  Christ  ? 66 

3.  Who  Is  Man  ?   68 

4.  What  Is  Sin  ?    70 

5.  Does  Christianity  Offer  a  Final  Standard  of  Morals? 72 

6.  What  Is  Salvation  ? 74 

7.  Does  the  Christian  Life  Satisfy  the  Human  Soul? 76 

(7) 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

STUDY  V.  Christ's  Method  of  Extending  the  Kingdom.  ..  79-93 

1.  Introduced  into  a  Value  through  Testimony 80 

2.  Christ   Expected   Men   to   Report   Their   Experience   to 

Others  82 

3.  TestimoH}'    the  Method  of  the    Early    Churches   in   Ex- 

tending  the   Kingdom    84 

4.  Testimony  through  the  Life 86 

5.  Is  Personal  Testimony   Necessary ? 88 

6.  The  Nature  of  Our  Testimony 90 

7.  Is  Personal  Testimony  Effective  ?  92 

STUDY  VI.   Why  Men   Neglect  to  Bear  Personal  Testi- 
mony     95-109 

1.  We  Shrink  from  All  Personal  Conversation 96 

2.  We  Are  Lacking  in  Knowledge 98 

3.  Fear  Men  Will  Resent  Our  Testimony 100 

4.  Personal  Testimony  Reveals  Weakness  of  the  Witness. ..   102 

5.  We  Want  to  Serve  in  the  Easiest  Way 104 

6.  We  Do  Not  Realize  the  Desperate  Need  of  Men 106 

7.  Our  Relation  to  Christ  Is  Not  Such  as  to  Beget  a  Sense 

of  Message   108 

STUDY  VII.  How  TO  Awaken  the  Indifferent  and  Self- 

Satisfied    111-125 

1.  Causes  of  Indifference    112 

2.  The  Contagion  of  Character  114 

3.  Help  the  Indifferent  Man  to  Realize  the  Value  of  His 

Own  Personality  116 

4.  Character  Determined  by  the  Things  to  Which  We  Give 

Attention    118 

5.  Ask  the  Indifferent  Man  to  Face  the  Facts 120 

6.  Meet  the  Excuses  "No  Time"  and  "Don't  Feel  Like  It"..   122 

7.  The   Sin   of  the    Self-Satisfied 1124 

STUDY  VIII.  How  TO  Help  the  Man  Whose  Faith  Is  Un- 
settled      127-141 

1.  Present-Day  Form  of  Unrest 128 

2.  Our  Attitude  toward  the  Man  of  Unsettled  Faith 130 

3.  How  Much  Must  One  Believe  before  He  Can  Begin  the 

Christian  Life  ? 132 

4.  The  Attitude   of  the  Truth  Seeker 134 

5.  Be  Constructive  in  Dealing  with  Unsettled  Faith 136 

6.  Is  Religion  a  Reality  ? 138 

7.  Is  Religion  a  Reality?   (Continued) 140 


CONTENTS.  9 

PAGK 

STUDY  IX.  Fundamentals  of  the  Christian  Faith 143-157 

1.  Is  Belief  in  an  Intelligent  First  Cause  (God)   Consistent 

with  Scientific  Truth  ?   144 

2.  Can  We  Believe  in  a  Good  God  ? 146 

3.  Helping  the  Man  Troubled  about  God's  Personality 148 

4.  Helping    the    Man    Troubled    about    God's    Personality 

(Continued)     150 

5.  Can  God  Speak  to  Men  ? 152 

6.  Wliat  Are  the  Conditions  of  Receiving  God's  Message?..  154 

7.  What  Is  the  Bible  ? 156 

STUDY  X.  Helping  Men  Solve  Difficulties  about  Christ  159-173 

1.  Christ  the  Perfect  Man 160 

2.  Christ's   Consciousness   of   Sonship 162 

3.  Was   Christ  an    Impostor,  a    Crazy  Man,  or  What   He 

Thought  Himself  to  Be  ? 164 

4.  Is  the  Incarnation  Idea  Inconsistent  with  Reason? 166 

5.  Jesus's  Consciousness  as  the  Giver  of  Life 168 

6.  Shall  We  Cultivate  the  Larger  Life  ? 170 

7.  Summary    172 

Bibliography    174-176 


INTRODUCTION. 

There  is  a  very  great  need  to-day  that  men  shall  be 
brought  to  feel  that  religion  is  not  a  thing  apart,  that  it  is 
knit  up  with  the  ordinary  processes  of  our  lives.  We  need 
to  see  that  being  religious  is  not  having  some  vague,  mysti- 
cal experience,  but  living  a  life  of  real  friendship.  Perhaps 
as  never  before  men  are  coming  to  realize  that  Christian 
life  is  not  abnormal,  but  the  most  completely  normal.  In 
this  life  we  use  the  same  powers  of  personality  which  we 
use  in  our  ordinary  friendships,  the  sole  difference  being 
that  in  this  God  friendship  we  are  associated  with  a  perfect 
and  full  personality ;  while  in  all  other  friendships  we  are 
associated  with  incomplete  and  partial  persons  like  our- 
selves. This  makes  a  difference  in  the  intensity  and  mean- 
ing of  our  friendship,  but  no  difference  as  to  kind. 

Further,  there  is  a  need  to  quiet  the  minds  of  some  wlio 
seem  to  think  psychology  is  putting  God  out  of  the  work- 
ings of  the  human  soul.  A  few  year  ago,  when  evolution 
was  in  the  enthusiastic  flush  of  a  new  discovery,  many  of  its 
advocates  and  still  more  of  the  Christian  people  thought  it 
was  destined  to  explain  away  God's  working  in  the  universe 
of  physical  nature.  But  we  have  long  since  ceased  to  feel 
that  evolution  is  opposed  to  religion.  It  claims  to  be  only  a 
theory  of  the  method  of  creation;  and  if  it  can  and  does 
reveal  to  us  the  method  by  which  God  works,  we  may  well 
rejoice  in  this  new  light,  which  is  essentially  religious. 

Psychology  is  just  now  beginning  to  make  a  serious  study 
of  the  phenomena  of  religio.us  experience ;  and  as  we  come 
to  understand  the  psychic  changes  which  go  on  at  conver- 
sion, some  seem  to  fear  that  God's  relation  to  the  inner  ex- 
periences of  man  will  be  explained  away.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  am  convinced  that  we  shall  soon  come  to  see  that 
psychology  is  simply  showing  us  the  manner  in  which  God 

(II) 


12  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 

moves  upon  a  human  spirit,  even  as  science  helped  us  to 
see  how  he  moved  in  the  realm  of  the  physical.  We  there- 
fore have  nothing-  to  fear  ultimately  from  a  careful  study  of 
the  psychic  laws  of  religious  experience.  Only  there  is  need 
to  help  men  see  this,  lest  on  the  one  hand  some  may  repudi- 
ate psychology,  and  on  the  other  some  may  repudiate  re- 
ligion. 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  need  that  men  shall  recognize 
that  there  are  fundamental  laws  for  spreading  the  Gospel. 
One  of  these  fundamental  laws  is  testimony.  The  Church 
and  religious  workers  have  far  too  long  neglected  this  form 
of  Christian  activity. 

There  needs  to  be  a  group  of  men  and  women  in  every 
community  who  have  gotten  clear  conceptions  of  what  it  is 
to  be  a  Christian,  how  this  fact  relates  itself  to  other  life, 
upon  what  facts  Christian  experience  is  based,  and  whether 
or  not  the  whole  matter  is  reasonable  and  normal.  Such  per- 
sons by  personal  dealings  with  others  may  lead  the  strongest 
and  best  of  their  communities  into  fellowship  with  Christ. 

This  little  volume  being  purely  practical  in  purpose,  can 
in  only  a  very  brief  and  inadequate  way  set  forth  some  of 
these  fundamental  truths,  in  the  hope  that  some  who  are  in 
doubt  may  be  strengthened ;  that  some  who  have  not  before 
done  so  may  find  expression  for  their  religious  experiences ; 
and  that  all  who  thus  see  more  clearly  the  meaning  of  their 
experience  may  through  personal  testimony  lead  others  into 
fellowship  with  Christ. 

My  ten  years  of  travel  and  work  with  college  men  have 
led  me  to  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  the  most  real  facts 
of  to-day  are  the  awful  ravages  of  sin,  and  the  consequent 
need  of  men,  the  uncertainty  on  the  part  of  many  as  to  how 
men  can  get  freedom  from  sin,  and  the  absolute  truth  of  the 
fact,  which  any  one  may  verify,  that  Christ  can  save  and 
make  free. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  Mr.  A.  J.  Elliott 
and  Mr.  Ray  H.  Legate  for  many  helpful  suggestions,  and 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

to  Mr.  W.  H.  Morgan  for  his  services  in  correction  of  the 
manuscript.  I  ought  also  to  acknowledge  my  deep  indebted- 
ness to  the  Bible  study  courses  of  Dr.  Edward  I.  Bosworth 
for  much  of  the  inspiration  of  this  book. 

If  this  little  volume  leads  even  a  few'  to  accept  the  Christ 
friendship  as  a  life  program;  if  it  enlightens  and  strengthens 
the  faith  of  some;  if  it  encourages  even  a  small  number  to 
begin  reporting  their  religious  experiences  to  others,  thus 
leading  them  into  the  Christian  life;  above  all,  if  it  helps 
only  a  few  to  see  how  truly  normal,  how  simple,  how  beau- 
tiful, and  how  wonderfully  impelling  is  this  friendship  of 
the  Christ,  I  shall  be  deeply  grateful  to  those  who  called  it 
forth. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  December  31,  1910. 


STUDY  I. 
Entrance  into  Christian  Life. 


i6  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST, 


STUDY  I.    ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  should  know  thee  the  only  true 
God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ."  (John 
xvii.  3.) 

"Ye  search  the  scriptures,  because  ye  think  that  in  them  ye  have 
eternal  life;  and  these  are  they  which  bear  witness  of  me;  and  ye 
will  not  come  to  me,  that  ye  may  have  life."    (John  v.  39,  40) 


PART  I.    WHAT  DOES  IT  MEAN  TO  BE  A  CHRISTIAN? 

Perhaps  the  greatest  religious  need  of  our  time  is  that  we 
shall  get  away  from  the  false  conceptions  of  what  it  means 
to  be  a  Christian.  Not  a  few  people  still  hold  to  the  idea 
that  believing  certain  things  makes  one  a  follower  of  Christ. 
Every  one  must  recognize  that  one's  belief  vitally  affects 
one's  life,  hence  no  one  can  afford  to  be  careless  about  what 
he  believes ;  but  no  amount  of  intellectual  assent  to  truths  of 
whatever  order  will  make  one  a  Christian.  The  Pharisees 
believed  that  a  careful  reading  and  memorizing  of  Scripture, 
a  punctilious  keeping  of  the  law,  a  slavish  following  of  the 
traditions  would  bring  eternal  life.  Christ  bluntly  sets 
aside  any  such  hope. 

Others  think  that  being  a  Christian  means  the  experienc- 
ing of  ecstatic  feelings  of  joy  and  peace.  No  one  can  doubt 
that  religious  life  brings  both  peace  and  joy,  and  at  times 
these  feelings  burst  forth  into  ecstasy;  but  the  waiting  for 
such  a  feeling  to  come  has  kept  many  a  person  from  enter- 
ing the  realm  of  the  Christian  life.  In  all  of  Christ's  teach- 
ings he  does  not  prescribe  any  certain  type  of  feelings  the 
experiencing  of  which  shall  be  the  condition  of  becoming  a 
disciple  of  his. 

A  third  class  of  people  hold  that  Christian  experience  is 
simply  a  high  type  of  moral  life.    Matthew  Arnold's  defiini- 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 


17 


tion  of  religion  as  "morality  touched  with  emotion"  has 
found  many  sympathizers.  Christian  experience  cannot  be 
divorced  from  moral  life,  but  it  is  deeper  than  simple  moral- 
ity. Indeed,  it  is  the  mainspring  of  our  truest  and  surest 
morality. 

What,  then,  is  it  to  be  a  Christian?  Christ  put  it  tersely 
when  he  said  it  was  to  know  God  and  his  messenger  Jesus 
Girist.  To  be  a  Christian  is  to  be  a  friend  of  God  as  he  is 
revealed  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  One  must  not  stop 
with  the  searching  of  the  Scripture,  but  through  it  must 
pass  on  to  a  knowledge  and  fellowship  with  Christ.  One 
must  expect  to  have  such  feelings  and  only  such  as  one 
would  have  in  the  presence  of  a  great  and  true  friend.  And 
in  view  of  this  fellowship  with  Christ,  one  must  act  as  is 
becoming  in  the  presence  of  this  perfect  Friend.  For  such 
a  morality  the  Christ  friendship  furnishes  the  power. 

Does  the  precept  run  "Believe  in  good. 

In  justice,  truth,  now  understood 

For  the  first  time  ?" — or,  "Believe  in  me. 

Who  lived  and  died,  yet  essentially 

Am  Lord  of  life  ?"    Whoever  can  take 

The  same  to  his  heart  and  for  mere  love's  sake 

Conceive  of  the  love — that  man  obtains 

A  new  truth ;  no  conviction  gains 

Of  an  old  one  only,  made  intense 

By  a  fresh  appeal  to  his  faded  sense. 

— Browning's  "Christian  Eve." 
2 


1 8  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.  ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"Seek  ye  Jehovah  while  he  may  be  found ;  call  ye  upon  him  while 
he  is  near :  let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous 
man  his  thoughts ;  and  let  him  return  unto  Jehovah,  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  him;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 
(Isa.  Iv.  6,  7.) 

"If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  us.  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  right- 
eous to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteous- 
ness."    (i  John  i.  8,  9.) 


PART  2.  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP, 
(a)  Forgiveness. 

If,  as  our  first  study  set  forth,  to  be  a  Christian  means  to 
be  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  God  whom  Christ  came 
to  make  known,  then  the  foremost  question  for  every  man 
is,  how  he  may  enter  this  friendship.  What  are  the  conditions 
of  coming-  into  friendly  relations  with  this  Father  God  ? 

The  first  condition  of  any  true  friendship  is  that  all  bar- 
riers separating  the  two  persons  shall  be  removed.  Let  us 
suppose  that  you  and  I  are  so  related  to  each  other  that  a 
friendship  is  not  only  desirable  but  possible.  Let  us  sup- 
pose that  I  get  sick  and  you  visit  me,  or  that  I  am  in  need 
and  you  help  me,  or  that  I  am  lonely  and  you  comfort  me. 
Let  us  suppose  that  when  the  crisis  is  past  I  show  no  appre- 
ciation of  your  kindness ;  that  I  pass  it  by  and  never  indi- 
cate the  least  gratitude.  Or  let  us  suppose  (a  perfectly 
possible  thing)  that  I  am  not  only  silent  about  your  kind- 
ness, but  I  deliberately  go  out  and  defame  your  name.  In 
either  case  there  is  a  barrier  raised  between  you  and  me. 
Until  that  barrier  of  misunderstanding  is  removed,  there  can 
be  no  friendship. 

If  you  are  a  true  soul  you  will  still  continue  to  love  me, 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  ig 

hut  you  cannot  approve  my  actions.  How  can  I  get  back  into 
your  approving  friendship  ?  There  is  just  one  way.  When 
I  come  to  reahze  that  I  have  clone  you  a  wrong,  that  I  have 
been  unfair,  I  will,  like  a  man,  come  back  to  you  and  ask  your 
forgiveness.  If  you  are  genuine,  and  if  you  know  or  have 
reason  to  believe  that  I  am  in  earnest,  I  will  get  forgiveness — 
that  is,  the  barrier  will  be  removed  and  a  real  friendship  will 
be  possible. 

Our  Christlike  God  has  done  everything  possible  to  give  us 
larger  life.  He  has  given  us  Christian  homes,  Christian 
Churches,  Christian  schools — above  all,  he  has  given  us  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  yet  many  of  us  have  been  absolutely  indifferent, 
or  perhaps  we  have  committed  overt  acts  of  sin.  In  either 
case  we  have  greatly  grieved  the  heart  of  our  Father  God. 
He  loves  us,  but  he  cannot  approve  of  our  life.  How  can 
we  get  back  into  his  approving  love  ?  By  coming  to  him  in 
simple,  manly  fashion,  and  asking  him  to  forgive  us  our  in- 
difference and  sin.  All  true  men  and  w^omen  will  ask  for- 
giveness when  they  know  they  have  wronged  a  friend.  Will 
we  be  fair-minded  enough  to  do  the  same  with  God  ? 

Can  it  be  true,  the  grace  he  is  declaring? 
O  let  us  trust  him,  for  his  words  are  fair! 
Mian,  what  is  this,  and  why  art  thou  despairing? 
God  shall  forgive  thee  all  but  thy  despair. 

—Myers's  "St.  Paul." 


20  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.  ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  Jehovah,  and  bow  myself  before 
the  high  God?  shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt-oflferings,  with 
calves  a  year  old?  will  Jehovah  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or 
with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil  ?  shall  I  give  my  firstborn  for  my 
transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul  ?  He  hath 
showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth  Jehovah  require 
of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God."     (Mic.  vi.  6-8.) 


PART  3.  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP 

(Continued). 

(b)  Repentance. 

Perhaps  some  student  is  still  unsatisfied  about  the  condi- 
tion of  asking  this  forgiveness.  He  is  looking  for  some  up- 
heaval of  the  emotions  to  warn  him  that  he  must  ask  for  for- 
giveness. We  have  so  long  been  schooled  in  the  thought  of 
emotionalism  that  we  fear  to  trust  our  good  judgment  and 
the  dictates  of  our  conscience  telling  us  that  we  are  wrong 
and  that  we  ought  to  get  right.  If  we  have  sinned,  it  is  the 
God  in  us  (we  call  it  conscience)  that  tells  us  so;  and  if 
we  know  that  we  ought  to  get  right,  it  is  our  God-given 
judgment  that  seeks  to  direct.  We  can  trust  these,  re- 
gardless of  what  our  feelings  are  or  are  not. 

I  spoke  once  at  the  University  of  Tennessee  on  the  social 
meaning  of  a  man's  sin.  W — ,  the  captain  of  the  football 
team  and  the  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, told  me  next  day  that  after  the  address  one  of  his 
tearnhmates  had  come  into  his  room  and,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes  and  signs  of  deep  emotion,  had  told  W —  he  had  been  un- 
fair toward  him ;  that  he  had  tried  to  defeat  him  for  the  cap- 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  21 

taincy,  etc.,  and  wanted  to  ask  his  forgiveness.  This  man 
was  affected  with  a  deep  emotion ;  but  another  man  with  a 
different  temperament  miG;-ht  have  committed  the  same  sin. 
asked  the  same  forgiveness  with  equal  sincerity  and  genu- 
ineness, but  with  less  or  almost  no  emotion. 

The  final  test  is  not  how  we  feel  but  what  we  think  of  our 
wrong,  and  what  we  will  do  about  it.  The  recognition  that 
we  are  wrong,  the  deliberate  turning  away  from  the  wrong 
because  our  hearts  despise  it,  and  the  determination  to  do 
right — that  is  the  real  condition  of  receiving  God's  forgive- 
ness.   It  is  technically  called  repentance. 

Well,  let  me  sin,  but  not  with  my  consenting; 

Well,  let  me  die,  but  willing  to  be  whole ; 
Never,  O,  Christ — so  stay  me  from  relenting. 

There  shall  be  truce  betwixt  my  flesh  and  soul. 

— Myers's  "St.  Paul." 


22  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.  ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTLAN  LIFE. 

'Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on 
thee;  because  he  trusteth  in  thee."     (Isa.  xxvi.  3.) 

"And  the  centurion  answered  and  said,  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy 
that  thou  shouldest  come  under  my  roof ;  but  only  say  the  word,  and 
my  servant  shall  be  healed.  .  .  .  And  when  Jesus  heard  it,  he 
marveled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed,  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.     (Matt.  viii.  8,  10.) 

"Jesus  said  therefore  unto  the  twelve,  Would  ye  also  go  away? 
Simon  Peter  answered  him.  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  have  believed  and  know  that  thou 
art  the  Holy  One  of  God."    (John  vi.  67-69.) 


PART  4.  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP 

(Continued). 

(c)  Faith. 

If  two  people  wish  to  be  friends,  they  must  freely  and 
fully  yield  themselves  to  each  other.  Trust  is  the  foundation 
stone  of  friendship.  Two  people  cannot  be  friends  who 
constantly  suspect  each  other.  Just  as  rapidly  as  their 
knowledge  of  each  other  justifies,  they  must  increasingly 
trust  each  the  other.  A  college  president  has  said  that  the 
man  who  goes  through  college  and  in  his  four  years  has  not 
found  one  person  into  the  deep  of  whose  soul  he  can  look 
and  say,  '*0  soul,  I  am  thine,"  and  hear  the  answer  back, 
"Yea,  soul,  and  I  am  thine,"  has  missed  the  purpose  of  his 
college  career.  That  finest  intercourse  of  soul  with  soul 
which  kindles  character  is  based  on  trust,  confidence,  faith. 

God  has  endeavored  through  all  the  ages  so  to  reveal  him- 
self to  us  that  we  will  trust  him.  The  beauty  and  strength 
of  character  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ  must  of  necessity  draw 
out  from  every  attentive  soul  a  growing  trust. 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  23 

Faith,  then,  is  the  deliberate  trust  in  and  the  active  sur- 
render of  one's  self  to  a  person  whose  character  is  such  as  to 
command  the  soul.  It  is  by  the  kindling  power  of  this  trust- 
ful relationship  that  a  man  grows  into  likeness  with  the 
character  in  whom  he  puts  his  trust.  To  be  a  Christian  one 
must  increasingly  surrender  himself  to  the  Father  God  as  he 
has  revealed  himself  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Personal  Thought:  Have  you  ever  found  yourself  wonder- 
ing whether  Christian  life  robs  you  of  the  larger  things? 
Can  God  be  trusted  to  deal  fairly  with  us  ?  If  so,  does  it  help 
our  friendship  with  him  to  doubt  him  continually  ? 


24 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.  ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there 
am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."     (Matt,  xviii.  20.) 

"He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that 
loveth  me :  and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I 
will  love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  unto  him.  .  .  .  Jesus 
answered  and  said  unto  him,  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my 
word:  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him, 
and  make  our  abode  with  him."    (John  xiv.  21,  23.) 


PART  5.  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP 
(Continued). 

(d)  Association. 

Friendship  is  a  communion  of  two  souls,  based  on  a  har- 
mony in  the  fundamental  ideals  of  life.  Without  this  har- 
mony of  ideals  there  can  be  no  real  friendship.  If  you  are 
honest  and  I  am  a  thief,  we  cannot  be  real  friends.  There 
is  no  harmony  of  ideals. 

How,  then,  can  you  and  I  grow  into  a  friendship  if  our 
ideals  are  different  ?  We  will  drop  in  to  see  each  other  day 
by  day.  In  an  open-minded,  kindly  spirit  we  will  talk  over 
— sometimes  casually,  sometimes  more  seriously — the  things 
in  which  we  are  interested.  We  will  talk  about  football,  fra- 
ternities, social  life,  culture,  religion.  Little  by  little  I  come 
to  see  what  your  attitude  toward  these  things  is,  and  you 
come  to  see  mine.  With  both  of  us  in  a  kindly  and  fair- 
minded  attitude,  the  better  things  of  your  life  will  appeal 
to  me  and  the  better  things  of  my  life  will  appeal  to  you. 
Little  by  little  the  meaner  things  in  each  life  will  drop  away, 
and  we  will  come  together  into  a  real  harmony  of  fundament- 
al ideals.    This  is  the  inevitable  result  of  a  kindly  and  open- 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  25 

minded  association.  It  cannot  possibly  be  otherwise.  To 
put  one's  self  into  the  presence  of  another  does  not  necessarily 
mean  physical  proximity.  One  may  put  himself  into  the 
presence  of  another  through  letters,  through  the  study  of 
his  writings,  or  through  the  reports  of  experience  which 
others  have  had  with  this  person. 

If  we  want  to  be  friends  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  will  go  to  him 
day  by  day  in  the  kindly  and  open-minded  spirit.  We  will 
sit  down  in  his  presence  and  find  what  he  thinks  of  men, 
what  he  thinks  of  God,  of  sin,  of  joy,  of  sorrow.  Happily 
we  can  find  what  Christ's  attitude  is  toward  these  funda- 
mental facts  of  life  by  reading  his  words  in  the  Bible.  This 
is  what  gives  such  tremendous  importance  to  daily  Bible 
study.  It  is  our  best  way  of  keeping  ourselves  continually 
in  the  presence  of  Christ's  attitude  toward  life. 

Now,  if  we  are  open-minded  as  we  put  ourselves  in  the 
presence  of  these  fundamental  ideals  of  Christ's  life,  we  will 
little  by  little  be  drawn  up  into  these  same  ideals.  "And  I, 
if  I  be  lifted  up,  .  .  .  wnll  draw  all  men  unto  me."  This 
is  the  natural  and  inevitable  process.  We  do  not  do  it;  it 
does  itself. 

I  cannot  grow  in  your  friendship  if  I  go  off  to  China, 
never  write  to  you,  never  hear  from  you,  never  think  of  you. 
The  law  of  a  growing  friendship  is  association ;  not  physical 
proximity,  but  living  in  the  presence  of  the  spirit  of  your 
life,  the  interchange  of  thought  and  ideals.  If  I  am  to 
grow  in  the  friendship  of  God  and  Christ,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary for  me  to  put  myself  constantly  into  their  presence,  and 
day  by  day  I  will  be  transformed  into  the  same  image. 

"Speak  to  him  thou,  for  he  hears,  and  spirit  with  spirit  can  meet — 
Closer  is  he  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet." 


26  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.  ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"But  what  saith  it?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in 
thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which  we  preach :  because  if 
thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  shalt  beheve  in 
thy  heart  that  God  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved : 
for  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness;  and  with  the 
mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation."     (Rom.  x.  8-10.) 

"And  I  say  unto  you.  Every  one  who  shall  confess  me  before  men, 
him  shall  the  Son  of  man  also  confess  before  the  angels  of  God : 
but  he  that  denieth  me  in  the  presence  of  men  shall  be  denied  in  the 
presence  of  the  angels  of  God."    (Luke  xii.  8,  9.) 


PART  6.  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP 
(Continued). 

{e)  Confession. 

One  of  the  laws  of  growth  in  friendship  is  expression. 
"That  which  is  covered  and  unexpressed  must  die"  is  not 
only  the  dictum  of  psychology  but  also  of  every  man's  prac- 
tical experience.  If  I  wish  to  get  free  from  a  temptation 
I  do  not  continue  to  say  to  it,  'T  will  forget  you,"  for  each 
time  I  say  that  the  very  expression  makes  the  temptation 
clearer  and  more  definite  in  my  mind.  The  psychological 
way  of  fighting  a  temptation  is  to  transfer  our  thought  to 
some  other  subject  which  is  powerful  enough  to  absorb  us, 
thus  helping  us  to  forget  the  evil,  to  cover  it  up  and  let  it  die. 

Herein  lies  one  of  the  supreme  values  of  Christianity: 
it  gives  us  the  supreme  object  of  the  world  on  which  we  can 
center  our  thought — even  Jesus  Christ.  The  best  way  of 
fighting  temptation  is  to  center  our  thought  on  the  matchless 
personality  of  Christ. 

The  feeling  of  friendship  which  does  not  find  expression 
will  die.    If  you  and  I  are  friends  and  yet  I  am  unwilling  to 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  27 

give  expression  to  that  friendshij),  it  will  atrophy.  If  I  slip 
out  of  the  room  quietly  when  some  one  else  enters,  just  to 
keep  from  beings  seen  in  your  presence,  my  friendship  will 
soon  perish.  A  friendship  which  is  not  deep  enough  to  be 
worth  acknowledgment  is  a  worthless  matter. 

A  great  many  people  are  trying  to  live  the  silent  Chris- 
tian Hfe.  Like  Xicodemus,  they  come  to  Jesus  by  night. 
Like  him,  they  say  that  it  is  better  to  live  than  openly  to  pro- 
fess ;  but  alas !  like  him  also,  when  the  testing  time  comes 
their  silent,  unexpressed  friendship  has  not  that  robustness 
and  strength  which  enables  them  to  stand  boldly  for  Christ. 
^Many  seem  to  think  that  Christ's  demand  for  open  confes- 
sion is  a  purely  arbitrary  demand.  Not  so ;  it  is  founded  on 
the  very  nature  of  our  being.  Christ  does  not  arbitrarily 
stand  at  the  door  of  the  kingdom  and  refuse  us  entrance 
unless  we  will  confess  him.  He  never  does  things  arbitrarily. 
But  Christ  does  stand  at  the  door  and  say  that  you  cannot 
grow  in  fellow^ship  with  him  unless  you  are  willing  to  be 
open  and  above  board  in  your  friendship;  and  he  says  this 
because  that  is  the  very  nature  of  our  being. 

One  of  the  serious  dangers  of  our  time  is  that  we  shall  so 
far  recoil  from  false  expression,  hypocrisy,  and  over-profes- 
sion that  we  shall  be  unwilling  to  give  expression  to  the  real 
convictions  of  our  lives,  and  hence  fail  to  fulfill  a  law  of  our 
being  without  which  no  friendship  can  grow.  One  of  the 
most  important  forms  of  confession  is  publicly  joining  the 
Church ;  for  to  become  a  Church  member  does  not  essentially 
mean  the  subscribing  to  creeds  and  dogmas,  but  the  affiliation 
of  our  lives  with  the  body  of  men  and  women  who  are  try- 
ing to  make  Christ  known. 

Personal  ThougJit:  Have  we  ever  thought  it  just  a  little 
unmanly  to  stand  openly  for  Jesus  Christ?  Is  this  because 
we  are  ashamed  of  the  manhood  of  Christ,  or  because  we  are 
ashamed  of  our  own  manhood?  If  it  is  the  latter,  will  the 
refusal  to  avow  our  desire  to  be  Christ's  friend  help  us  to 
grow  into  such  a  character  that  we  need  not  be  ashamed  ? 


28  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  I.    ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

"Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good."     (Rom. 
xii.  21.) 

"I  was  eyes  to  the  blind,  and  feet  was  I  to  the  lame.  I  was  a 
father  to  the  needy :  and  the  cause  of  him  that  I  knew  not  I  searched 
out."     (Job  xxix.  IS,  i6.) 

"And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Go  and  tell  John  the 
things  which  ye  have  seen  and  heard ;  the  blind  receive  their  sight, 
the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  the  poor  have  good  tidings  preached  to  them."  (Luke 
vii.  22.) 


PART  7-  STEPS  IN  ENTERING  THIS  FRIENDSHIP 
(Concluded). 

(/)     Service. 

Another  fundamental  law  of  life  is  service.  That  which 
does  not  serve  must  die.  If  I  tie  my  hand  down  to  my  side 
and  let  it  remain  there  for  a  year,  when  I  remove  the  bandage 
the  arm  will  hang  lifeless  and  dead.  It  has  atrophied  because 
it  has  not  served.  If  you  and  I  are  friends  living  in  the  same 
house,  and  you  are  launching  a  great  altruistic  scheme,  the 
impulse  of  friendship  will  be  to  serve  you.  But  suppose  I 
say  I  am  too  busy ;  suppose  I  say  there  is  no  money  in  that 
for  me;  suppose  I  refuse  to  give  you  counsel  or  encourage- 
ment; what  will  happen  to  my  friendship?  It  will  die,  of 
course.  It  costs  something  to  be  a  friend  to  a  man,  and  one 
cannot  pay  the  price  in  cheap  coin.  The  only  coin  that  will 
circulate  here  is  time,  thoughtfulness,  love,  life.  One  rea- 
son why  so  many  of  us  have  few  friends  is  that  we  are  not 
willing  to  pay  the  price.  We  would  pay  money — anything — 
except  that  final  and  supreme  thing  which  it  takes  to  have 
friendship — the  giving  of  life  in  loving  service.  Perhaps 
this  is  why  so  many  men  and  women  cannot  or  do  not  find 
happiness  in  the  home  life.  It  costs  life  to  be  the  kind  of 
man  or  woman  that  will  make  the  right  conditions  for  a 
friendship  as  husband  or  as  wife.  Not  infrequently  one  of 
the  parties  is  unwilling  to  pay  the  price,  and  no  real  friend- 
ship can  live. 


ENTRANCE  INTO  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  29 

To  be  a  friend  of  Jesus  Christ  means  service.  The  very 
essence  of  Christianity  is  that  we  shall  share  with  our 
brother  that  which  we  have.  No  man  can  be  a  Cliristian  who 
will  not  serve  in  Christ's  knij:i^dom ;  and  our  field  of  service 
is  among  men  who  are  Christ's  brothers  and  God's  children. 
"For  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  to  eat.  .  .  .  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even  these 
least,  ye  did  it  unto  me."    (Matt.  xxv.  35,  40.) 

Now  this  is  not  simply  a  dictum  of  religion ;  it  is  a  fun- 
damental law  of  our  being.  That  which  does  not  serve  dies. 
It  is  because  so  many  have  neglected  to  heed  this  law  that 
they  have  found  themselves  without  any  abiding  conscious- 
ness of  a  friendly  relationship  with  Christ.  In  personal 
conference  with  hundreds  of  college  men  to  whom  religion 
has  come  to  have  no  meaning,  I  have  almost  always  dis- 
covered the  fact  that  such  men  had  not  been  workers.  They 
had  not  served  in  Christ's  kingdom,  hence  their  soul  life  had 
died.  If  I  am  to  be  your  friend,  I  must  serve  you  where  I 
can.  I  may  not  be  able  to  give  you  large  sums  of  money, 
but  I  can  give  you  sympathy,  I  can  speak  a  good  word  for 
you,  I  can  do  whatever  my  ability  allows-,  and  no  more  is 
needed.  If  we  are  to  be  Christ's  friends,  the  fundamental 
law  of  our  being  demands  that  we  serve.  We  cannot  disre- 
gard this  law  and  grow  in  friendship.  We  may  not  be  able 
to  preach  a  great  sermon,  or  lead  with  power  in  public 
prayer  or  give  great  sums  of  money  to  missions,  but  we  can 
stand  as  a  witness  for  Christ;  we  can  invite  a  friend  to  go 
with  us  to  Church ;  we  can  help  a  friend  to  form  the  habit 
of  daily  Bible  study.  We  can  do  whatever  our  ability  al- 
lows, and  nothing  more  is  required. 

I  think  this  is  the  authentic  sign  and  seal 

Of  Godship,  that  it  ever  waxes  glad 

And  more  glad,  until  gladness  blossoms,  bursts 

Into  a  rage  to  suffer  for  mankind, 

And  recommence  at  sorrow :  drops  like  seed 

After  the  blossom,  ultimate  of  all. 

Say,  does  the  seed-corn  scorn  earth  and  seek  the  sun? 

Surely  it  has  no  other  end  and  aim 

Than  to  drop,  once  more  to  die,  into  the  ground. 

Taste  cold  and  darkness  and  oblivion  there : 

And  thence  rise,  treelike,  grow  through  pain  to  joy. 

More  joy,  most  joy — do  man  good  again. 

— Broiifning's  "Balaustion's  Adventure." 


STUDY  II. 

What  Really  Happens  When  a  Man  Becomes  a 
Christian. 


32 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  11.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh;  and  that  which  is  born 
of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."    (John  iii.  6.) 

"For  the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  death;  but  the  mind  of  the  Spirit 
is  life  and  peace :  .  .  .  But  if  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up 
Jesus  from  the  dead  dwelleth  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  Jesus 
from  the  dead  shall  give  life  also  to  your  mortal  bodies  through  his 
Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you."     (Rom.  viii.  6,  ii.) 


PART  I.    CONVERSION. 

Some  time  or  other  a  man  wakes  up  to  the  fact  that  he  is 
wrong,  that  he  has  Hved  without  reference  to  the  will  of  his 
Father,  God ;  he  deliberately  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  will 
come  to  God  and  ask  forgiveness ;  he  deliberately  gives  him- 
self over  to  a  friendly  attitude  toward  that  Fatherly  person  ; 
by  his  life  and  expressions  he  declares  that  he  is  trying  to  live 
on  friendly  terms  with  God ;  by  the  service  of  his  life  he  be- 
gins to  lead  others  into  this  friendly  relationship — and  we  say 
he  is  converted. 

Perhaps  this  change  in  his  life  has  been  a  sudden  break; 
perhaps  his  former  life  has  been  openly  rebellious.  Then  we 
say  he  has  had  a  marvelous  change.  Or  perhaps  this  change 
has  been  gradual ;  perhaps  it  has  not  been  the  changing  of 
his  direction  of  life,  but  simply  his  awakening,  when  he  de- 
liberately faces  the  facts,  to  the  consciousness  of  a  deeper 
meaning  in  the  things  he  has  been  doing.  Perhaps  it  is  just 
a  conscious  and  deliberate  acceptance  as  his  own  of  the  fel- 
lowship of  Christ  which  has  always  been  the  atmosphere  of 
his  being.  In  any  case,  it  is  an  awakening  to  reality,  a  delib- 
erate choosing  of  a  life  program.    When  a  man  assumes  this 


WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS. 


33 


new  altitude,  he  is  by  that  very  fact  a  Christian.  He  has  put 
liimself  into  such  an  attitude  that  God  is  able  to  forgive  him 
and  take  him  back  into  his  approving  love. 

"To  be  converted,"  says  Prof.  William  James,  "to  be  re- 
generated, to  receive  grace,  to  experience  religion,  to  gain 
an  assurance — are  so  many  phrases  which  denote  the  process, 
gradual  or  sudden,  by  which  a  self  hitherto  divided  and  con- 
sciously wrong,  inferior,  and  unhappy,  becomes  unified  and 
consciously  right,  superior,  and  happy,  in  consequence  of  its 
firmer  hold  on  religious  realities."* 

In  Stud>-  I.  we  have  attempted  to  show  that  the  steps  by 
which  one  enters  the  Christian  life  are  perfectly  natural 
steps.  Religious  life  is  not  something  apart,  but  is  the  whole 
being  going  out  to  God,  in  accordance  with  the  very  laws  by 
which  we  live  our  lives  of  human  friendship. 

When  one  becomes  a  Christian  (if  you  wish  to  use  the 
word),  when  one  becomes  converted,  when  one  deliberately 
puts  himself  into  the  presence  of  God  with  the  desire  to  live 
the  God  life,  something  has  really  happened.  If  nothing 
really  happens,  if  we  are  not  different  after  we  become  Chris- 
tians, if  some  new  dynamic  has  not  entered  our  lives — then 
all  talk  about  religion  is  twaddle.  If,  however,  something 
has  actually  happened,  and  we  have  a  new  power  and  a  new 
life,  every  man  wants  this  thing  we  call  religion.  If  we  can 
show  that  religion  makes  a  real  difference,  we  have  made  it 
binding  for  all  men.  In  this  Study  let  us  face  this  question 
frankly. 

Meditation:  If  you  are  a  Christian,  can  you  tell  what  ac- 
tually did  happen  in  your  case?  If  not  a  Christian,  what  are 
you  expecting  to  happen  ?  Do  not  be  satisfied  with  general 
terms,  but  make  your  thought  specific. 

'"Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"  p.  189. 


34 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  11.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God; 
And  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me. 
Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence ; 
And  take  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me. 
Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation; 
And  uphold  me  with  a  willing  spirit."  (Ps.  li.  10-12.) 

"Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  Jehovah :  though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.  If  }^e  be  willing  and  obedient, 
ye  shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land."     (Isa.  i.  18,  19.) 

"But  all  things  are  of  God,  who  reconciled  us  to  himself  through 
Christ,  and  gave  unto  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation :  to  wit,  that 
God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  reckoning 
unto  them  their  trespasses,  and  having  committed  unto  us  the  word  of 
reconciliation.  We  are  ambassadors  therefore  on  behalf  of  Christ,  as 
though  God  were  entreating  by  us :  we  beseech  you  on  behalf  of 
Christ,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."    (2  Cor.  v.  18-20.) 


PART  2.  SENSE  OF  ESTRANGEMENT  REMOVED. 

One  of  the  most  serious  results  of  sin  is  the  fact  that  it 
estranges  the  sinner  from  the  person  against  whom  the 
wrong  has  been  committed.  As  soon  as  you  have  wronged 
or  injured  another  you  at  once  begin  to  shun  him ;  you  will 
walk  a  whole  block  not  to  meet  him.  It  is  very  unpleasant 
to  be  thrown  in  his  presence.  A  great  barrier  has  been 
raised.  This  feeling  of  estrangement  makes  one  afraid  even 
to  ask  forgiveness.  Once,  when  I  was  at  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College  of  Mississippi,  a  fine  fellow  became 
a  Christian  at  one  of  the  meetings.  The  next  morning  he 
came  to  my  room  and  threw  down  before  me  a  stamped 


jyilAT  REALLY  HAPPENS.  35 

envelope  addressed  to  his  father,  and  asked  me  to  write  his 
father  teUing  of  his  changed  hfe.  When  asked  why  he  did 
not  write  himself,  he  said  that  he  did  not  feel  that  he  could 
because  his  life  had  been  so  sinful,  and  he  and  his  father  had 
been  so  deeply  estranged. 

Sin  breaks  up  the  harmony  of  friendship  between  man 
and  God.  When  a  man  turns  back  and  asks  forgiveness, 
this  estrangement  is  at  once  removed.  The  way  is  opened 
up  for  a  genuine  communion.  We  are  so  accustomed  to 
measure  the  guilt  of  sin  by  its  physical  results  that  we  often 
overlook  the  fact  that  the  removal  of  this  sense  of  estrange- 
ment is  the  most  vital  and  fundamental  result  of  the  soul's 
turning  from  sin. 

The  removal  of  estrangement  at  once  creates  in  the  soul 
of  a  man  a  feeling  of  oneness  with  God.  The  dawn  of  a 
God  consciousness  is  therefore  one  of  the  fundamental  re- 
sults of  a  man's  deliberate  giving  himself  to  the  Christian 
fellowship. 

"When  the  sense  of  estrangement,"  writes  Professor  Lu- 
eba,  "fencing  man  about  in  a  narrowly  limited  ego  breaks 
down,  the  individual  finds  himself  'at  one  with  all  creation.' 
He  lives  in  the  universal  life;  he  and  man,  he  and  nature, 
he  and  God  are  one."* 

'Quoted  from  "Varities  of  Religious  Experience,''  p.  247. 


36  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  11.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain."     (Phil.  i.  21.) 

"Yea  verily,  and  I  count  all  things  to  be  loss  for  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord :  for  whom  I  suflfered  the 
loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count  them  but  refuse,  that  I  may  gain 
Christ,  and  be  found  in  him,  not  having  a  righteousness  of  mine  own, 
even  that  which  is  from  God  by  faith :  that  I  may  know  him,  and  the 
power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  be- 
coming conformed  unto  his  death;  if  by  any  means  I  may  attain 
unto  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."     (Phil.  iii.  8-11.) 


PART  3.  THE  CHANGE  FROM  A  SELF-CENTERED  TO  A 
GOD-CENTERED  LIFE. 

The  center  of  the  non-Christian  life  is  the  ego.  The  phi- 
losophy of  this  life  is  self-preservation  and  self-development. 
Even  the  best  of  the  non-Christian  religions  are  self-cen- 
tered. They  turn  the  thought  of  the  worshiper  in  upon  him- 
self, so  that  salvation  in  these  religions  is  a  selfish  release 
or  freedom  from  punishment.  So  deep  is  this  matter  of  self 
ingrained  in  us  that  we  are  scarcely  able  to  shake  ourselves 
free  from  it.  So  long  as  one  continues  to  be  completely 
self-centered  there  can  be  no  friendship,  for  friendship 
means  the  giving  up  of  self,  the  surrender  of  one's  life  to 
another  life.  It  means  the  submerging  of  our  good  in  the 
larger  good  of  two  lives. 

When  a  man  deliberately  yields  himself  to  the  friendship 
of  Christ,  somehow  he  ceases  to  be  a  self-centered  man  and 
becomes  a  God-centered  man.  The  man  who  before  thought 
only  of  himself  now  begins  to  think  about  the  things  in  which 
God  is  interested.  A  big  athlete  in  one  of  our  colleges  was 
accustomed  to  laugh  at  missions  as  the  work  of  fanatics. 


WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS.  37 

But  one  day  he  was  converted.  He  became  a  follower  of 
Christ,  and  at  once  began  to  wonder  why  he  should  not  go 
out  to  the  non-Christian  lands  to  preach  the  p^ospel.  Some- 
thing had  happened  in  his  life :  whereas  before  he  was  sel- 
fish, now  he  was  unselfish ;  whereas  he  was  planning  for 
his  own  pleasure,  now  he  forgot  himself  in  service  for  others. 
It  is  a  mighty  change  which  takes  a  life  directed  for  years  in 
one  selfish  channel  and  suddenly  turns  it  in  an  exactly  oppo- 
site direction.  This  is  a  fact  which  no  scientific  mind  can 
pass  over  lightly.    What  has  happened  ? 

The  psychologist  says  that  by  a  sudden  emotion  or  other- 
wise the  life  has  become  organized  around  a  new  nervous 
center;  that  the  old  channels  of  thought  have  been  walled 
up ;  and  that  the  self  has  become  identified  with  a  new  world, 
where  newer  and  broader  channels  of  thought  must  be  found. 
This  seems  perfectly  plausible ;  indeed,  I  think  it  is  the  way 
in  which  the  change  comes  about.  But  what  makes  that 
change?  Why  should  religion  and  religion  alone  make  this 
completely  new  center  of  nervous  life? 

The  religious  man  knows  what  has  happened.  Somehow, 
doubtless  according  to  the  laws  of  psychology — for  God 
works  according  to  law,  though  not  necessarily  according  to 
what  man  conceives  to  be  law — somehow  God  has  touched 
the  soul  of  a  man,  and  all  things  have  become  new.  His 
very  thoughts  move  in  different  channels.  The  very  chan- 
nels of  his  old  thought  have  been  inhibited — walled  up,  to 
put  it  in  untechnical  terms — and  his  life  flows  out  in  an  en- 
tirely dififerent  direction.  It  is  a  marvelous  thing  to  take  a 
self-centered,  self-indulgent,  self-loving  soul  and  turn  it 
round  into  a  God-centered,  self-sacrificing,  service-loving 
life.  And  yet  that  is  what  happens  when  men  become  Chris- 
tians. 

Who  that  one  moment  has  the  least  descried  him 

Dimly  and  faintly,  hidden  and  afar, 
Doth  not  despise  all  excellence  beside  him, 

Pleasures  and  powers  that  are  not  and  that  are 

—Myers's  "St.  Paul." 


38  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  II.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"For  thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  God, 
And  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honor. 

Thou  makest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  work  of  thy  hands 
Thou  has  put  all  things  under  his  feet."     (Ps.  viii.  5,  6.) 

"The  Spirit  himself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are 
children  of  God:  and  if  children,  then  heirs;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint 
heirs  with  Christ;  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we  may  be 
also  glorified  with  him."     (Rom.  viii.  i6,  17.) 


PART  4.  A  NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  SELF. 

One  of  the  most  marked  results  of  the  Christian  Hfe  is  the 
new  appreciation  which  the  Christian  has  of  his  own  life. 
This  seems  almost  to  contradict  the  last  section  of  our  study, 
where  we  saw  a  man  forgetting  himself  in  service  for  others. 
But  the  two  conceptions  are  entirely  compatible.  The  Chris- 
tian man  at  once  sees  the  larger  significance  of  his  own  life 
and  its  power  for  service.  "It  seems  that  the  heightened 
worth  of  self  and  the  altruistic  impulses  in  conversion  are 
closely  bound  up  together,  and  the  differences  between  them 
lie  simply  in  the  different  content  of  consciousness,  deter- 
mined by  the  direction  in  which  it  is  turned.  The  central 
fact  underlying  both  is  the  formation  of  a  new  ego,  a  fresh 
point  of  reference  for  mental  states."^  In  a  later  study  we 
shall  discuss  the  new  valuation  which  Christianity  gives  to 
humanity  at  large.  Here  we  are  concerned  with  the  Chris- 
tian man  finding  a  new  and  exalted  selfhood. 

St.  Paul  at  once  saw  that  this  new  friendship  related  him 
directly  to  God  and  to  Jesus  Christ.  He  became  a  joint  heir 
with  Christ.  This  gave  a  new  dignity  and  a  new  meaning  to 
his  whole  personality.  He  was  at  once  an  heir  and  a  co- 
worker with  Christ. 

^Starbuck's  "Psychology  of  Religion,"  p.  129. 


WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS. 


39 


Just  this  same  new  appreciation  of  life  conies  to  men  to- 
day when  they  become  friends  of  Jesus  Christ.  One  of  my 
good  friends  told  me  of  such  a  change  in  his  Hfe.  lie  had 
been  planning  to  do  a  certain  thing  in  life — honorable,  but 
not  large  or  comimanding.  Suddenly  he  awoke  to  the  meaning 
of  the  Christ  friendship — he  became  a  Christian.  After 
that  his  old  ambition  seemed  to  him  entirely  too  small  to 
satisfy.  He  immediately  went  to  college  to  fit  himself  for  a 
much  larger  career,  which  he  has  for  some  years  been  filling 
with  great  success.  Suddenly  a  new  ambition  was  created 
within  him.  Suddenly  he  began  to  realize  that  a  larger  thing 
was  possible  for  him.  Suddenly  his  own  life  took  on  a  new 
meaning  and  new  responsibilities.  Something  had  really 
happened. 

The  psychologist  explains  this  new  appreciation  of  self, 
the  exaltation  of  the  ego,  as  the  coming  into  consciousness 
of  new  centers  of  nervous  activity.  To  quote  Professor  Star- 
buck  again:  "It  is  as  if  brain  areas  which  had  lain  dormant 
had  now  suddenly  come  into  activity — as  if  their  stored-up 
energy  had  been  liberated,  and  now  began  to  function."^ 
Later  Professor  Starbuck  goes  on  to  say  that  this  latent 
or  stored-up  nervous  energy  might  have  lain  dormant  for- 
ever had  not  a  religious  awakening  released  it.  Our  obser- 
vation goes  to  prove  that  precisely  this  is  what  is  happening 
in  thousands  of  cases  to-day.  Men  are  using  only  a  part  of 
their  splendid  capacities  because  they  have  never  felt  the 
contagion  of  the  God  life,  which  kindles  into  flame  the 
smoldering  embers  of  spiritual  energy. 

Something  actually  happens  when  a  man  suddenly  awakes 
to  the  larger  reaches  of  his  own  person.  The  psychologist 
has  rendered  us  a  great  service  in  showing  us  just  how  the 
touch  of  the  God  life  brings  into  the  realm  of  conscious  ac- 
tivity the  latent  energies  of  our  soul. 

Meditation:  Are  you  living  in  such  close  conscious  fellow- 
ship with  God  as  to  have  all  your  powers  of  mind  and  heart 
alert  and  active?    Are  you  satisfied  with  less  than  your  best? 

^Starbuck's  "Psychology  of  Religion,"  p.   132. 


40  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  II.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS   WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"For  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the 
flesh ;  for  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other ;  that  ye  may  not  do 
the  things  that  ye  would.  But  if  ye  are  led  by  the  Spirit  ye  are  not 
under  the  law."     (Gal.  v.  17,  18.) 

"Wretched  man  that  I  am !  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body 
of  this  death?  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  So  then 
I  of  myself  with  the  mind,  indeed,  serve  the  law  of  God;  but  with  the 
flesh  the  law  of  sin."     (Rom.  vii.  24,  25.) 


PART  5.     UNIFICATION  OF  PERSONALITY. 

One  of  the  most  intense  realities  of  life  is  the  fact  of  strug- 
gle, the  battle  between  the  lower  nature  and  the  higher 
nature ;  or,  if  you  please  to  put  it  so,  the  tug  of  two  opposing 
worlds  within  the  soul.  All  men  are  conscious  of  this 
double  personality.  This  struggle,  in  which  the  lower  na- 
ture seemed  most  frequently  victorious,  St.  Paul  expresses 
in  the  familiar  phrase :  "The  good  which  I  would  I  do  not : 
but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  practice."     (Rom.  vii. 

Now  the  psychologist  accounts  for  this  divided  personal- 
ity by  the  fact  that  the  personality  is  dominated  at  different 
times  by  sets  of  ideas  often  diametrically  opposed  in  ten- 
dency. These  opposing  sets  of  ideas,  rising  into  conscious- 
ness, struggle  to  overcome  each  other,  and  a  man  finds  him- 
self drawn  in  two  opposite  directions.  Groups  of  ideas 
concerned  with  good  and  evil,  respectively,  cause  the  most  in- 
tense struggle  because  they  are  so  absolutely  and  uncompro- 
misingly opposed  to  each  other.  Hence  it  arises  that  the  de- 
cision to  become  a  Christian  man  may  be  accompanied  with 
the  most  terrific  battle  that  a  man  ever  fig^h'ts.  It  is  the  at- 
tempt of  the  Godward  ideas  to  assume  complete  dominance 
over  the  evilward  ideas.  "The  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh." 

When  a  man  becomes  a  Christian  he  deliberately  puts  the 
power  of  his  will  on  the  side  of  the  Godward  ideas.  He  ex- 
alts them  into  the  place  of  supremacy.    He  deliberately  re- 


WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS.  4 1 

fuses  to  allow  the  opposite  ideas  to  control,  lie  deliberately 
makes  up  his  mind  that  these  lower  centers  of  thouj^ht  ener- 
g-y  shall  not  have  a  central  place  in  his  consciousness.  "It 
makes  a  oreat  dilTerence."  says  Professor  James,  "to  a  man 
whether  one  set  of  his  ideas  or  another  be  the  center  of  his 
energy ;  and  it  makes  a  g^reat  difference  as  regards  any  set 
of  ideas  which  he  niay  possess,  whether  they  become  central 
or  remain  peripheral  in  him.  To  say  that  a  man  is  'con- 
verted' means,  in  these  terms,  that  religious  ideals  previously- 
peripheral  [on  the  outer  edge,  dim,  indistinct]  in  his  con- 
sciousness now  take  a  central  place,  and  that  religious  aims 
form  the  habitual  center  of  his  energy."" 

This  is  the  psychological  process  of  the  formation  of  the 
new  Christian  life.  The  real  thing  which  has  happened  is 
the  touch  of  the  soul  of  a  personal  God  on  the  sensitive  soul 
of  a  man  in  such  manner  that  the  very  center  of  his  being- 
is  changed.  Somehow  the  ideas  of  God-consciousness  move 
into  the  central  field  of  life,  and  by  the  marvelous  power  of 
the  touch  of  God  they  are  strong  enough  to  hold  sway.  The 
battle  may  not  be  over,  the  old  ideas  may  rise  up  again  to 
find  expression,  but  the  real  controlling  power  of  the  life  is 
the  God-consciousness. 

A  college  man  I  knew,  who  was  a  degraded,  helpless 
drunkard,  walked  into  the  Jerry  McAuley  Alission  one  night 
to  beg  money,  with  which  he  meant  to  buy  whisky.  He 
heard  the  simple  testimonies  of  how  God  had  helped  other 
men  to  break  this  awful  habit.  He  made  up  his  mind  to  try 
it.  He  gave  his  life  to  God  that  night.  Four  nights  later  I 
heard  that  man  give  his  simple  testimony  at  the  meeting.  He 
said  :  "I  came  into  this  house  four  nights  ago  a  helpless,  hope- 
less drunkard.  I  had  not  been  completely  sober  for  many, 
many  months.  I  gave  my  life  to  God,  and,  men,  for  four 
days  and  nights  I  have  been  a  sober  man,  even  though  before 
I  would  have  gone  through  hell  to  get  a  drink  of  whisky." 
The  years  have  passed,  and  the  testimony  is  still  true. 

From  a  personality  "which  was  divided,  consciously 
wrong,  inferior,  and  unhappy,"  he  became  a  personality 
"which  was  unified,  consciously  right,  superior,  and  happy," 
because  a  new  God-consciousness  had  dawned  in  his  life  and 
had  taken  the  central  place  in  his  being.  Something  had 
really  happened. 

"■'Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"  p.  196. 


42 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  II.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"But  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering, 
kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  self-control ;  against  sucli 
there  is  no  law."     (Gal.  v.  22,  23.) 

"For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  eating  and  drinking,  but  right- 
eousness and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit."    (Rom.  xiv.  17.) 


PART  6.    A  NEW  SPIRIT  OF  KINDLINESS  TOWARD  MEN. 

The  test  of  a  life  is  its  attitude  toward  those  with  whom  it 
is  associated.  If  I  claim  to  be  a  Christian,  and  yet  contin- 
ually criticise  and  find  fault  with  my  companions  in  social 
life,  every  man  sees  the  hypocrisy  of  my  profession.  If  I 
have  no  control  of  my  temper,  but  am  constantly  flying-  into 
a  rage  with  my  associates  in  social  life,  class  room,  or  athletic 
field,  I  am  not  exhibiting-  the  fruits  of  Christian  experience. 
The  fruit  of  the  Christ  friendship  is  the  friendly  life.  If  one 
does  not  find  himself  growing  into  an  increasing  friendliness 
for  men,  if  he  is  not  more  sympathetic  and  kindly  in  spirit, 
then  he  is  not  giving  the  Christ  life  a  chance  to  mold  his 
character. 

This  new  kindliness  of  spirit  is  precisely  what  men  do  ex- 
perience when  they  become  followers  of  Christ.  In  the  re- 
sponses concerning  their  religious  experience,  which  Profes- 
sor Starbuck's  questionnaire  elicited,  I  find  the  following: 
Case  I,  "The  change  made  me  very  affectionate,  while  before 
I  was  very  cold  to  my  parents;  case  2,  "I  felt  it  my  duty 
after  that  to  be  polite  and  sympathetic.  My  enemies  were 
changed  into  friends;"  case  3,  "I  spoke  at  once  to  a  person 
with  whom  I  had  been  angry." 


IV HAT  REALLY  HAPPENS. 


43 


A  new  element  has  come  into  human  Hfe  which  makes  ii 
more  sympathetic,  more  kindly,  more  gracious.  Montgomery 
in  his  poem,  "The  Watchman,"  makes  the  captain  of  the 
guard  at  Christ's  tomb  say  that  seeing  Christ  had  trans- 
formed his  entire  being. 

I  care  no  more  for  glory;  all  desire 
For  honor  and  for  strife  is  gone  from  me. 
All  eagerness  for  war     I  only  care 
To  help  and  save  bruised  beings,  and  to  give 
Some  comfort  to  the  weak  and  suffering; 
I  cannot  even  hate  those  Jews ;  my  lips 
Speak  harshly  of  them,  but  within  my  heart 
I  only  feel  compassion ;  and  I  love 
All  creatures  to  the  vilest  of  the  slaves. 
Who  seem  to  me  as  brothers.    Claudia, 
Scorn  me  not  for  this  weakness ;  it  will  pass — 
Surely  'twill  pass  in  time  and  I  shall  be 
Maximus,  strong  and  valiant  once  again 
Forgetting  that  slain  god.    And  yet — and  yet — 
He  looked  as  one  who  could  not  be  forgot ! 


44  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  11.     WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS  WHEN  A 
MAN  BECOMES  A  CHRISTIAN. 

"For  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  j'ou,  save  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified."  (i  Cor.  ii.  2.) 

"Yea  verily,  and  I  count  all  things  to  be  loss  for  the  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord :  for  whom  I  suffered  the 
loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count  them  but  refuse,  that  I  may  gain 
Christ."  (Phil.  iii.  8.) 

PART  7-  A  NEW  CENTER  OF  LOYALTY. 

Growing  out  of  these  new  elements  that  enter  into  the 
new  man,  and  partly  at  least  the  basis  of  these  new  forces,  is 
the  sense  of  loyalty  which  arises  in  the  really  religious  soul. 
We  talk  much  of  religious  devotion,  but  I  prefer  the  word 
loyalty,  because  it  is  more  personal.  It  denotes  our  connec- 
tion with  a  person  outside  ourselves.  It  is  precisely  this 
personal  loyalty  that  every  man  needs — something  to  take 
him  outside  himself,  something  that  gathers  up  his  scattered 
energies,  some  one  in  whose  cause  man  can  lose  himself. 
Many  a  man  is  wasting  his  life  in  mere  twaddle  because  he 
has  never  found  an  ideal  great  enough  or  a  personality  at- 
tractive enough  wholly  to  command  him.  The  one  salvation 
for  hundreds  of  men  will  be  to  find  outside  themselves  a 
great,  absorbing  life  which  will  unify  their  powers  and  give 
them  a  cause  large  enough  to  draw  out  all  their  latent  ener- 
gies. "If  you  want  to  find  a  way  of  living,"  says  Professor 
Royce,  "which  surmounts  doubt  and  centralizes  your  powers, 
it  must  be  some  such  way  as  all  the  loyal  in  common  have 
trodden  since  first  loyalty  was  known  among  men."^ 

Professor  William  James  points  out  that  there  are  in  every 

^"Philosophy  of  Loyalty,"  p.  46. 


WHAT  REALLY  HAPPENS.  45 

mail  a  great  many  restricting  and  retarding  forces.  He  calls 
them  inhibitions.  These  inhibitions  are  the  forces  which 
constantly  say  "No"  when  we  are  about  to  undertake  a  hard 
thing.  They  account  for  our  moods  of  vacillation  and  weak- 
ness. The  only  thing  that  will  break  down  these  obstructions 
is  a  great  passion.  "Given  a  certain  amount  of  love,  indig- 
nation, generosity,  magnanimity,  admiration,  loyalty,  enthu- 
siasm of  self-surrender,  the  result  is  always  the  same.  That 
whole  raft  of  cowardly  obstructions  which  in  tame  persons 
and  dull  moods  are  sovereign  impediments  to  action,  sink 
away  at  once."* 

It  is  precisely  this  which  happens  when  one  centers  his 
attention  on  the  supreme  personality  of  the  universe  as  he  is 
revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  There  comes  into  his  life  the 
motive  power  of  a  new  affection.  In  a  man  like  St.  Paul  this 
loyalty  becomes  a  consuming  passion*  which  sweeps  every 
lower  ideal  before  it.  This  kind  of  loyalty  sets  for  us  a 
worthy  life  task,  gives  us  strength  to  live  for  it,  and  heart- 
ens us  as  we  labor.  Labor  is  transformed  in  the  presence 
of  such  a  passion,  and  even  pain  becomes  suffused  with  some- 
thing akin  to  joy  if  it  is  incurred  in  the  pathway  of  loyalty 
to  the  central  person  of  the  universe. 

He  who  finds  himself  weak  and  vacillating,  who  finds  the 
battles  of  temptation  all  too  hard,  who  feels  himself  lacking 
in  decision  and  concentration  needs  to  throw  his  life  into 
the  Christian  Hfe  with  complete  abandon,  for  in  the  whole- 
souled  friendship  of  Jesus  Christ  there  is  power  for  new 
life.  He  who  knows  that  friendship  has  had  something 
happen  within  him  which  makes  him  a  new  man. 

^"Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"'  p.  266. 


STUDY  III. 

The  Distinctive  Message  of  Christianity. 

(47) 


48  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"He  hath  cast  off  thy  calf,  O  Samaria;  mine  anger  is  kindled 
against  them:  how  long  will  it  be  ere  they  attain  to  innocency?  For 
from  Israel  is  even  this;  the  workman  made  it,  and  it  is  no  God;  yea, 
the  calf  of  Samaria  shall  be  broken  in  pieces."    (Hosea  viii.  5,  6.) 

"For  the  invisible  things  of  him  since  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through  the  things  that  are  made, 
even  his  everlasting  power  and  divinity;  that  they  may  be  without 
excuse:  because  that,  knowing  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God, 
neither  gave  thanks ;  but  became  vain  in  their  reasonings,  and  their 
senseless  heart  was  darkened."     (Rom.  i.  20,  21.) 


PART  I.  THE  GOD  OF  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS. 

In  order  to  understand  clearly  the  uniqueness  of  the 
Christian  message  it  is  necessary  to  set  forth  very  briefly 
the  message  of  the  non-Christian  faiths.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary to  do  full  credit  to  these  religions  if  we  are  to  have  a 
fair  understanding  of  the  supremacy  of  Christianity.  Surely 
every  religion  has  much  of  good  in  it,  for  it  represents,  in 
part  at  least,  the  striving  of  the  Spirit  of  God  with  these 
people,  as  he  has  attempted  to  lead  all  men  to  himself.  "The 
scientists,"  says  Professor  Knox,  "may  ignore  the  wisdom 
of  Asia,  but  the  Christian  cannot  ignore  its  faiths.  He  must 
consider  their  claim  and  compare  them  with  his  own."  Per- 
haps we  shall  find  that  this  comparison  will  be  the  greatest 
proof  of  the  supremacy  of  Christ's  gospel. 

As  a  religion  is  determined  by  its  conception  of  God,  let 
us  first  see  what  these  non-Christian  faiths  have  to  say  con- 
cerning this  ultimate  reality. 

Islam  holds  firmly  to  a  personal  Being,  who  is  the  divine 
and  final  person  in  the   universe.     "There  is  no  God  but 


DISTINCT  nil  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         49 

God,"  is  the  battle  cry  of  the  Mohammedan.  In  the  fact  of 
a  personal  God,  Islam  is  like  unto  Christianity,  but  in  the 
characteristics  of  that  God  they  stand  far  apart.  Christi- 
anity believes  in  a  God  who  is  self-existent,  has  free  will, 
hut  always  acts  in  accordance  with  his  own  highest  self. 
Islam,  on  the  other  hand,  sets  forth  a  God  who  is  self-ex- 
istent, has  a  free  will,  acts  in  entirely  arbitrary  fashion,  with- 
out any  regard  for  self-consistency.  The  Mohammedan  God 
is  therefore  one  without  consistency,  or,  one  may  almost  say, 
without  real  morality ;  for  no  person  who  is  arbitrary  can  be 
completely  moral.  Of  the  ninety-nine  names  given  to  the 
God  of  Islam,  there  is  none  that  denotes  the  idea»of  father- 
hood or  tender  care.  He  is  absolutely  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  world  and  touches  it  only  according  to  caprice,  not 
according  to  any  law  of  self-consistency.  Such  a  God,  su- 
premely worthy  in  its  conception  of  unity,  which  opposes  all 
polytheism  and  destroys  all  idol  worship,  can  hardly  satisfy 
the  longings  of  the  human  soul  for  fellowship  with  the  di- 
vine. 

4 


50 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  he  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth,  having  determined  their  appointed  seasons,  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitation ;  that  they  should  seek  God,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him  and  find  him,  though  he  is  not  far  from  each 
one  of  us :  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being ;  as  cer- 
tain even  of  your  own  poets  have  said,  For  we  are  also  his  offspring." 
(Acts  xvii.  36-28.) 


PART  2.  THE  GOD  OF  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS 
(Continued). 

Turning  from  Mohammedanism  to  Hinduism,  we  im- 
mediately come  into  an  entirely  different  realm  of  thought. 
Mohammed  held  to  a  God  of  distinct  personahty  and  com- 
plete unity.  While  the  Hindu  religion  from  time  to  time 
declares  its  God  to  be  personal,  it  is  a  personality  far  dif- 
ferent from  anything  we  know.  He  is  the  sole  essence 
and  reality  of  the  universe,  the  unity  pervading  all  things. 
Beside  him  there  is  no  other  reality.  "There  is  no  second 
outside  of  him,  no  other  distinct  from  him,"  is  the  set  formula 
of  the  Hindu  faith.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  is  no 
other  God  beside  him;  it  means  that  there  is  no  other  reality 
beside  him. 

There  is  in  this  conception  the  fundamental  truth  of  the 
unity  of  life,  the  interrelatedness  of  all  being ;  but  there  is  the 
fundamental  error  of  leaving  out  of  account  all  human  per- 
sonality. If  there  is  no  other  beside  God,  then  I  am  a  mere 
dream,  a  shadow,  a  delusion.  This  being  so,  it  is  inade  im- 
possible for  me  to  know  that  that  is  so ;  for  my  mind,  which 
tells  me  it  is  so,  is  not  real,  has  no  existence. 


DISTINCT  1  I'll  MESSAGE  OF  CHRIST  I  AMITY.         51 

The  Buddhist  conception  goes  still  further  and  denies  not 
only  the  reality  of  man  but  the  reality  of  God.  There  is  no 
reality ;  all  is  change  and  decay  and  delusion.  "It  is  an  es- 
sential doctrine,"  says  Rhys  Davids,  perhaps  the  greatest  au- 
thority on  Buddhism — "It  is  an  essential  doctrine,  constant- 
ly insisted  upon  in  the  original  Buddhist  texts  and  still  held, 
so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  by  all  Buddhists,  that 
there  is  nothing,  either  divine  or  human,  either  animal  or 
vegetable  or  material,  which  is  permanent.  There  is  no  be- 
in^;  there  is  only  a  becoming."^ 

Personal  TJwught:  Reflect  for  a  moment  to-day  on  what 
the  value  of  religion  would  be  to  you  if  you  were  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  these  religions — that  is,  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  human  person ;  that  you  are  sim- 
ply deluded  when  you  think  you  exist. 

*"Am.  Lectures,"  p.  121. 


52  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  as  for  thy  bondmen,  and  thy  bondmaids,  whom  thou  shalt 
have ;  of  the  nations  that  are  round  afcout  you,  of  them  shall  ye  buy 
bondmen  and  bondmaids."     (Lev.  xxv.  44.) 


PART  3.  VALUATION  OF  MAN  IN  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN 
RELIGIONS. 

According  to  Islam,  man  is  not  akin  to  God ;  he  does  not 
partake  of  his  nature  and  essence ;  neither,  indeed,  is  such  a 
thing-  desirable.  Man  is  the  creature  o-f  God ;  he  is  absolutely 
dependent  upon  his  Creator  in  everything.  While  theo- 
retically he  is  a  moral  agent,  practically  he  cannot  be,  for 
God  has  fixed  his  fate  long  before  man  comes  into  being. 
One  Mohammedan  writer  has  put  it  thus : 

When  fate  has  come,  man  cannot  it  avert; 
Fate  fails  not,  should  he  mind  and  sight  exert. 
Beyond  the  Lord's  decree,  writ  by  his  pen, 
Nor  less  nor  more  comes  to  his  servants,  men. 

This  conception  at  once  takes  from  man  all  his  dignity  and 
worth.  He  is  simply  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  an  arbitrar}' 
God.  The  Hindu  and  Buddhist  conception  is  far  less  sat- 
isfactory. According  to  the  former,  man  has  no  distinct  ex- 
istence, but  is  simply  an  emanation  from  the  divine,  to  which 
he  will  sooner  or  later  return.  He  is  not  responsible,  for 
whatever  he  does  is  the  deed  of  the  all-pervading  God.  This 
at  once  cuts  the  nerve  of  all  high  endeavor.  Buddhism  goes 
further  and  denies  man  any  existence  whatever.  Man  is 
simply  a  shadow,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  he  is  just  the  result 
of  the  stored-up  energy  of  past  deeds  and  desires.  Desire, 
lust,  longing — these  are  the  efficient  cause  of  existence.    If 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         53 

I  do  not  put  away  all  desire,  when  my  being  disintegrates, 
anotlier  being  must  come  into  existence  to  live  out  the  result 
of  the  stored-up  energy  of  my  desires  and  deeds  (karma). 
The  horror  of  life,  therefore,  is  rebirth  in  another  form,  to 
have  new  desires,  only  to  give  birth  to  a  new  existence.  Man, 
therefore,  is  a  creature  bound  to  the  eternal  round  of  decay 
and  rebirth  in  endless  and  monotonous  succession.  Salva- 
tion, as  we  shall  see  later,  is  the  getting  free  from  this  wheel 
of  destiny,  the  stopping  of  this  monotonous  succession  of 
rebirths. 

These  conceptions  do  not  dignify  manhood.  Hence  in 
these  countries  the  common  man  is  nothing;  he  is  simply  a 
slave.  Only  the  man  who  has  fortune  or  some  temporal 
blessing  can  be  worthy  of  notice.  ^lan  is  valuable  not  be- 
cause of  what  he  essentially  is  but  because  of  something  he 
possesses. 

Religions  which  have  no  more  exalted  ideas  of  man  are 
not  apt  to  make  provision  for  a  xtry  worthy  salvation. 


54  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"Wash  me  thoroughly  from  mine  iniquity, 
And  cleanse  me  from  my  sin. 
For  I  know  my  transgressions; 
And  my  sin  is  ever  before  me. 
Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned. 
And  done  that  which  is  evil  in  thy  sight; 
That  thou  mayest  be  justified  when  thou  speakest, 
And  be  clear  when  thou  judgest."     (Ps.  li.  2-4.) 


PART  4,  CONCEPTION  OF  SIN  IN  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN 
RELIGIONS. 

No  non-Christian  religion  has  such  a  note  of  personal  sin 
as  that  in  the  reference  just  quoted,  Psalm  li.  2-4. 

Every  religion,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  takes  account  of  a 
man's  consciousness  of  sin — that  is,  recognizes  that  man  is 
out  of  harmony  with  his  truer  self  and  his  environment.  The 
form  which  this  conception  of  sin  takes  varies  greatly. 

The  Mohammedan  conception  of  sin  is  nearest  to  that  of 
Christianity.  Here  sin  is  a  transgression  of  the  will  of  God, 
and  hence  personal.  The  fundamental  weakness  of  the  con- 
ception lies  in  the  fact  that  this  will  of  God  is  purely  arbi- 
trary and  not  necessarily  in  conformity  to  any  fundamental 
law  of  right  or  wrong.  In  other  words,  while  Mohammedan 
sin  is  personal,  it  is  the  transgression  of  the  whimsical  com- 
mands of  an  arbitrary  God.  Thus,  as  a  Mohammedan  ex- 
pressed it  to  a  missionary :  'Tf  I  use  tobacco,  God  may  damn 
me;  but  if  I  murder  or  commit  adultery,  God  may  be  merci- 
ful." This  at  once  throws  sin  into  the  realm  of  arbitrary 
codes  and  does  away  with  its  most  heinous  aspect — the  non- 
conformity to  a  holy  and  loving  will  of  a  self-consistent  God. 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTFANITY.         55 

According  to  Hinduism,  since  there  is  no  personal  God, 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  nonconformity  to  his  will ;  so 
sin  in  the  Christian  sense  is  unknown.  Also,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  God  is  all  and  in  all,  and  nothing  exists  beside  him, 
all  deeds  are  simply  the  deeds  of  the  God,  and  hence  cannot 
be  sinful.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  personal  transgres- 
sion. In  spite,  however,  of  this  philosophic  unreality  of  sin, 
the  Hindu  religion  has  much  to  say  about  it.  Somehow  the 
sense  of  sin  cannot  be  set  aside.  The  chief  sin  is  the  affirma- 
tion of  personal,  separate  existence.  Thought  of  personality 
is  a  delusion  and  an  error  out  of  which  arises  all  suffering. 
It  is  this  which  gives  rise  to  karma  (the  influence  which 
lives  on  in  a  new  birth),  which  condemns  one  to  perpetual 
rebirths. 

Buddhist  sin  is  closely  akin  to  that  of  Hinduism.  Since 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  permanent  existence,  either  human 
or  divine,  since  all  is  change,  the  chief  sin  is  to  harbor  the  de- 
lusion of  personal  existence.  The  first  fetter  which  holds 
man  from  entering  the  eightfold  path  of  peace  is  sakkaya 
ditthi,  the  delusion  of  self. 

From  this  very  brief  statement  one  immediately  sees  that 
sin  has  no  such  terror  for  the  non-Christian  peoples  as  it 
has  for  those  of  the  Christian  faith.  Sin  with  them  is  error, 
delusion,  failure ;  with  Christianity  it  is  personal,  willful 
transgression. 


56  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  even  as  they  refused  to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  up  unto  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things  which  are 
not  fitting;  being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  wickedness,  covet- 
ousness,  maliciousness;  full  of  envy,  murder,  strife,  deceit,  malignity; 
whisperers,  backbiters,  hateful  to  God,  insolent,  haughty,  boastful, 
inventors  of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  understand- 
ing, covenant  breakers,  without  natural  affection,  unmerciful :  who, 
knowing  the  ordinance  of  God,  that  they  that  practice  such  things 
are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  also  consent  with  them 
that  practice  them."     (Rom.  i.  28-32.) 


PART  5.  STANDARDS  OF  MORALITY  IN  NON-CHRISTIAN 
RELIGIONS. 

It  catinot  be  doubted  that  the  non-Christian  religions  have 
many  splendid  moral  precepts.  We  have  paid  little  attention 
to  Confucianism  in  these  studies,  but  here  one  ought  to  say 
that  the  Confucian  standard  of  morals  is  high.  The  golden 
rule,  though  expressed  negatively,  the  high  reverence  for 
parents,  the  inculcation  of  virtue,  courage,  benevolence,  loy- 
alty— all  these  are  splendid.  But  in  Confucianism  God  is  ig- 
nored, woman  is  degraded,  polygamy  sanctioned,  and  no 
power  is  given  whereby  the  other  virtues  may  be  attained. 
China,  leprous  with  sin  and  degradation,  is  a  full  and  suffi- 
cient answer  to  Confucian  ethics  as  a  final  system. 

Mohammedanism  inculcates  the  highest  reverence  for  God, 
mercy  to  captives,  charity  to  the  needy,  patience  in  hardships, 
sobriety,  and  kindness.  These  are  all  well  worth  while.  But 
side  by  side  with  these  precepts  it  inculcates  the  most  bitter 
cruelty  to,  and  persecution  of,  non-believers;  slavery  is  di- 
rectly and  positively  sanctioned;  lying  to  women  justified; 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


57 


woman  is  degraded  and  made  a  tool  of  man's  lust,  and  even 
heaven  itself  is  a  land  where  every  man  may  have  unnum- 
bered houris  to  minister  to  his  debased  passion.  No  one  who 
reads  the  Koran,  much  less  any  one  who  views  the  practical 
outcome  of  the  Mohammedan  code  of  morals,  can  find  any 
final  standard  there. 

Hindu  moral  codes  dilTer  with  the  numerous  sects,  but 
on  the  whole  it  may  be  said  that  all  alike  teach  self-control, 
truthfulness,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation.  The 
more  cultured  sect,  following  the  Bhagavad-Gita  as  their  sa- 
cred book,  may  be  said  to  have  a  fair  code  of  morals.  But 
no  religion  can  pose  as  having  a  final  standard  for  morals 
which  sets  up  in  its  temples  carvings  which  are  such  a  trav- 
esty of  morality  and  decency  that  no  Christian  woman  can 
visit  the  temple.  Nor  can  it  hope  to  have  much  moral  power 
when  its  gods  in  incarnate  form  are  notorious  as  thieves  and 
licentious  beyond  measure,  and  a  part  of  its  sacred  books 
must  be  condemned  by  the  English  government  as  "obscene 
literature. 

In  Buddhism  there  is  the  most  utter  confusion  of  essen- 
tials and  nonessentials.  Thus,  sleeping  on  a  trundle-bed  is 
put  side  by  side  with  hatred,  pride,  self-righteousness.  Mo- 
rality is  a  code  and  not  a  principle.  Not  only  so,  but  all  basis 
for  morality  is  cut  from  beneath  a  Buddhist's  feet,  for  he  be- 
lieves in  neither  self  nor  God,  and  there  can  be  no  moral  duty 
for  either. 

None  of  these  religions  can  satisfy  our  sense  of  moral  life. 
They  are  the  morals  of  a  stationarj'  code,  and  cannot  meet 
the  needs  of  growing  life. 


58  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

What  grief 
Springs  of  itself  and  springs  not  of  desire? 
Senses  and  things  perceived  mingle  and  light 
Passion's  quick  spark  of  fire. 

This  is  peace : 
To  conquer  love  of  self  and  lust  of  life, 
To  tear  deep-rooted  passion  from  the  breast, 
To  still  this  inward  strife. 

Arnold's  "The  Light  of  Asia." 


PART  6.  CONCEPTION  OF  SALVATION   IN   NON-CHRIS- 
TIAN RELIGIONS. 

By  the  word  salvation  we  do  not  here  refer  specially  to 
the  future  life.  This  is  simply  a  resultant  of  salvation.  Sal- 
vation is  what  a  religion  proposes  to  do  for  us  here  and  now. 

In  accordance  with  the  Mohammedan  idea  of  sin,  as  the 
transgression  of  the  arbitrary  mandate  of  God — often  with- 
out regard  to  the  fundamental  conception  of  right  and  wrong 
— the  result  of  sin  is  disfavor,  but  not  guilt.  Sin  does  not 
have  the  quality  of  guilt  which  it  has  for  Christians.  Hence 
Mohammedan  salvation  is  not  forgiveness  but  indulgence; 
not  freedom  from  guilt,  but  freedom  from  punishment.  A 
man  who  still  has  a  murderous  heart  may  gain  entrance  into 
paradise,  if  only  God  pleases  to  be  indulgent.  Personal  holi- 
ness is  not  inculcated  as  the  goal  for  Mohammedan  character. 

According  to  Hinduism,  the  supreme  evil  of  life  is  this 
embodied  existence  which  continually  returns  in  a  new-em- 
bodied form.  To  get  rid  of  this  round  of  rebirth,  to  get  away 
from  embodied  existence,  to  be  reabsorbed  into  the  divine, 
is  the  one  conception  of  salvation.    This  can  be  attained  only 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


59 


by  the  complete  denial  of  the  self,  with  all  its  desires  and 
passions.  Hence  salvation  is  the  going  out  of  the  fires  of 
life. 

Buddhism  is  much  akin  to  this.  It  also  seeks  freedom  from 
embodied  existence.  It  is  necessary  thereto  that  a  man  ex- 
ting^uish  all  desire,  all  passion,  all  thoug^ht ;  then  he  will  pass 
out  of  this  deluded  state  into  nirvana,  the  state  where  he  is 
at  rest  and  without  desire,  without  anxiety.  Finally,  when 
this  present  embodied  existence  is  dissolved,  he  will  simply 
be  snufTed  out;  he  will  have  attained  extinction  (parra-nib- 
bana).  This  is  final  and  complete  salvation.  It  is  simply  a 
nihilism. 


6o  INTRODUCIXG  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  III.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

How  many  births  are  past  I  cannot  tell; 

How  many  births  to  come  no  man  can  say. 
But  this  alone  I  know  and  know  full  well, 

That  pain  and  grief  embitter  all  the  way. 

— South  India  Folk  Song. 


PART  7.  DO  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  SATISFY? 

We  have  very  briefly  set  forth  the  non-Christian  concep- 
tions of  God,  man,  sin,  morality,  salvation,  and  we  must  now 
ask  in  conclusion:  Do  these  religions  satisfy  the  souls  of 
men?  "The  religious  problem,"  says  Professor  Knox,  "is: 
Given  man,  dependent  and  ignorant,  with  feelings,  fears, 
hopes,  hatreds,  loves,  in  the  midst  of  he  knows  not  what 
dangers  and  difficulties ;  how  shall  he  be  triumphant  over 
fear  and  sin  and  death?  How  shall  he  live  in  peace  and 
make  existence  not  only  endurable  but  worthy?  Thus, 
though  some  may  regret  it,  the  direct  and  fundamental 
proofs  of  our  religion  can  be  found  only  in  its  satisfaction 
of  the  cravings  of  the  soul,  and  by  its  adaptation  to  the  high- 
est wants  of  society  through  its  ethical  activities."^ 

Measured  by  these  standards,  do  the  non-Christian  reli- 
gions prove  adequate  ?  The  supreme  craving  in  every  human 
soul  is  for  fellowship  with  a  higher  kindred  power.  Brown- 
ing has  well  voiced  this  hunger  of  the  soul  in  his  splendid 
words  in  "Pauline :" 

The  last  point  I  can  trace  is,  rest,  beneath 
Some  better  essence  than  itself,  in  weakness; 

^"Direct  and  Fundamental  Proofs  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  pp. 
156  and  173. 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         6l 

This  is  "myself,"  not  what  I  think  should  be : 

And  what  is  that  I  hunger  for  but  God  ? 

My  God,  my  God,  let  me  for  once  look  on  thee 

As  though  naught  else  existed,  we  alone. 

And  as  creation  crumbles,  my  soul's  spark 

Expands  till  I  can  say :  "Even  from  myself 

I  need  thee  and  I  feel  thee  and  I  love  thee." 

I  do  not  plead  my  rapture  in  thy  works 

For  love  of  thee,  nor  that  I  feel  as  one 

Who  cannot  die :  but  there  is  that  in  me 

Which  turns  to  thee,  which  loves  or  which  should  love. 

Which  one  of  the  religions  which  we  have  discussed  can 
meet  this  test?  Islam  cannot,  for  its  God  is  a  capricious, 
austere,  absentee  ruler  who  cares  naught  for  human  life. 
Buddhism  cannot,  for  it  denies  the  existence  of  any  God  at 
all.  Hinduism,  though  its  contemplative  method  comes 
nearer  than  any  other,  cuts  off  any  final  satisfaction,  for  there 
cannot  be  any  real  communion,  since  there  are  no  persons  to 
enter  into  that  relationship.  There  is  only  one ;  that  is  God, 
and  even  his  is  not  a  person,  but  a  vague,  pantheistic  essence 
that  pervades  the  universe. 

Those  who  have  studied  the  peoples  in  the  mission  fields 
tell  us  that  the  souls  of  these  men  are  hungry.  There  is  a 
great  unrest,  a  great  longing  which  finds  no  final  satisfaction 
through  the  non-Christian  faiths.  That  these  religions  have 
value  cannot  be  doubted ;  but  that  they  are  not  able  to  meet 
the  needs  of  men  is  equally  clear  to  any  careful  student. 


STUDY  IV. 

The  Distinctive  Message  of  Christianity. 

(63) 


64  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep 
my  word :  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him, 
and  make  our  abode  with  him."     (John  xiv.  23.) 

"When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and  called  my  son  out 
of  Egypt.  .  .  .  Yet  I  taught  Ephraim  to  walk;  I  took  them  on  my 
arms ;  but  they  knew  not  that  I  healed  them.  I  drew  them  with  cords 
of  a  man,  with  bands  of  love :  and  I  was  to  them  as  they  that  lift  up 
the  yoke  on  their  jaws;  and  I  laid  food  before  them.  .  .  .  How 
shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim?  how  shall  I  cast  thee  off,  Israel?  how 
shall  I  make  thee  as  Admah?  how  shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboiim?  My 
heart  is  turned  within  me,  my  compassions  are  kindled  together.  .  .  . 
I  will  not  execute  the  fierceness  of  mine  anger,  I  will  not  return  to 
destroy  Ephraim :  for  I  am  God,  and  not  man :  the  Holy  One  in  the 
midst  of  thee;  and  I  will  not  come  in  wrath."     (Hos.  xi.  i,  3,  4,  8,  9.) 

"God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  in  spirit 
and  truth."     (John  iv.  24.) 


PART  I.  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  CONCEPTION  OF  GOD. 

We  have  seen  the  faihire  of  the  non-Christian  rehgions. 
In  perfect  fairness  of  spirit  we  must  now  inquire  whether 
Christianity  has  any  better  rehgious  message.  Let  us  turn 
to  the  Christian  conception  of  God.  A  later  study  will  at- 
tempt to  justify  this  conception. 

First  of  all,  the  God  of  Christianity  is  personal — that  is,  he 
is  a  conscious  being,  possessed  of  intelligence,  will,  and  emo- 
tional life  which  enables  him  to  be  related  with  other  beings. 
To  say  that  God  is  personal  does  not  mean  that  he  is  limited, 
for  the  Christian  conception  (that  presented  by  the  New  Tes- 
tament) distinctly  'denies  all  limitation.  He  is  complete  in 
intelligence,  will,  and  emotional  possibilities.    He  knows  all 


DISTIXCTll'E  MESSAGE  OF  CIIRISTIAMTV.         65 

truth ;  he  is  able  at  all  times  to  control  his  actions.  He  al- 
ways does  that  which  is  worthy. 

Xot  only  is  God  personal,  but  he  is  self-consistent.  He 
cannot  act  otherwise  than  in  accordance  with  his  own  nature 
— that  is,  in  accordance  with  the  reasonableness  and  essential 
truth  in  thinji^s.  There  is  no  arbitrariness  here,  no  whimsical 
capriciousness.  His  character  (and  character  inheres  only 
in  personality ;  nothing  else  has  character)  is  righteously 
self-consistent. 

Still  further,  Christianity  sets  forth  the  conception  of  a  God 
who  is  a  Father,  and  who  sustains  toward  men  the  loving  re- 
lation of  Fatherhood.  No  other  religion  outside  Christianity 
has  such  a  conception.  Judaism  has  it  in  embryo,  though  not 
well  developed.  This  Father  is  ambitious  to  give  to  each 
child  his  largest  and  truest  life.  To  this  end  he  cares  for  each 
individual  human  soul,  and  nothing  touches  the  life  of  man 
which  does  not  touch  also  the  heart  of  God.  God  is  no  ab- 
sentee Creator  of  the  universe  who  sits  outside  the  universe 
and  sees  it  go.  He  is  intimately  connected  with  the  daily  and 
hourly  movements  in  the  world.  Although  distinct  in  per- 
sonality, yet  he  pervades  all  life  in  a  more  real  sense  than  the 
life  of  my  friend  pervades  my  life  when  we  are  in  conscious 

communion. 

Thus  he  dwells  in  all 
From  life's  minute  beginnings  up  at  last 
To  man — the  consummation  of  this  scheme  of  being. 

— Browning's  "Paracelsus." 

5 


66  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"Which  of  }'Ou  convicteth  me  of  sin?  If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye 
not  believe  me?"     (John  viii.  46.) 

"And  Jesus  cried  and  said,  He  that  believeth  on  me,  believeth  not 
on  me,  but  on  him  that  sent  me.  And  he  that  beholdeth  me,  behold- 
eth  him  that  sent  me."     (John  xii.  44,  45.) 

"Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,  and  the  life :  he  that 
believeth  on  me,  though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live ;  and  whosoever 
liveth  and  believeth  on  me  shall  never  die.  Believest  thou  this? 
She  saith  unto  him.  Yea,  Lord :  I  have  believed  that  thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  even  he  that  cometh  into  the  world."  (John 
xi.  25-27.) 

"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. 
For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light."     (Matt  xi.  28-30.) 


PART  2.  WHO  IS  JESUS  CHRIST? 

We  can  state  here  only  in  the  barest  outHne  the  Christian 
conception  of  Christ.  A  later  study  will  attempt  to  justify 
this  conception. 

Jesus  believed  himself  to  be  the  one  perfect  man.  Neither 
in  his  consciousness  nor  in  the  consciousness  of  his  disciples 
do  we  find  any  indication  that  he  ever  sinned. 

He  believed  himself  to  hold  a  unique  relation  to  his  Fa- 
ther, God.  Again  and  again  he  asserted  that  he  was  the  mes- 
senger sent  from.  God  to  reveal  to  men  the  meaning  of  life. 

He  believed  that  the  world  would  be  judged  by  the  stand- 
ard of  his  own  life. 

He  believed  that  there  was  within  himself  that  which  would 
satisfy  the  longings  of  the  human  soul.  .  . 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OP  CHRISTL-INITY.         67 

"It  is  not  by  chance  that  Christianity  centers  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  that  he  is  accounted  God  and  man.  For  thus  the 
highest  expression  of  truth  is  found  in  a  person.  If  God  be 
Father  and  man  be  his  son,  if  self-giving^  love  for  the  highest 
benefit  of  others  be  the  supreme  principle  of  their  common 
nature,  then  the  religious  and  ethical  aspects  of  our  faith  are 
summed  up  in  him.  His  life  and  his  death  reveal  this  love  as 
supreme,  and  that  is  the  final  end  of  man.  To  that  Christ  ap- 
peals, to  that  he  likens  his  Father,  and  that  he  asks  from  men 
as  the  condition  of  discipleship.  Man  becomes  through  per- 
fect service  the  complete  expression  of  God.  So  that  the 
Christian  finds  the  true  symbol  of  his  faith  not  in  any  abstract 
principle  of  the  nature  of  the  Infinite,  but  in  him  who  went 
about  doing  good,  and  gave  his  life  that  his  brethren  also 
might  become  sons  of  God."^ 

^"Direct  and  Fundamental  Proofs  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  pp. 
190,  191. 


68  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him;  male  and  female  created  he  them."     (Gen.  i.  27.) 

"And  a  man  shall  be  as  a  hiding  place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert 
from  the  tempest,  as  streams  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the  shade  of 
a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land."     (Isa.  xxxii.  2.) 

"I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches :  He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I 
in  him,  the  same  beareth  much  fruit :  for  apart  from  me  ye  can  do 
nothing."     (John  xv.  5.) 


PART  3.  WHO  IS  MAN? 

According  to  Christianity  man  is  a  self-conscious,  free 
moral  being,  made  in  God's  likeness,  and  capable  of  under- 
standing, at  least  in  part,  the  works  and  manifestations  of 
God. 

No  other  religion  gives  to  man  such  high  dignity  as  does 
Christianity.  Here  he  is  represented  not  only  as  created  in 
the  image  of  God  but  he  is  known  as  the  friend  and  com- 
panion of  God.  Jesus  was  interested  in  every  type  of  hu- 
manity— the  Samaritan  woman  at  the  well,  the  poor,  blind 
beggar  at  the  roadside,  the  scarlet  woman  who  slipped  into 
the  banquet  hall  and  anointed  his  feet,  the  learned  and  re- 
spectable Nicodemus,  the  degraded  taxgatherer  Levi-Mat- 
thew,  who  was  willing  to  make  his  living  out  of  exorbitant 
taxes  extorted  from  his  fellow-countrymen — in  all  these 
he  was  intensely  interested. 

Jesus  was  no  pretender.  He  was  no  flatterer.  He  was 
interested  in  these  people  because  he  saw  in  them  something 
genuinely  worth  while.    As  Dr.  Bosworth  points  ont:  "He 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         69 

represented  this  interest  in  human  personality  as  not  pe- 
cuhar  to  himself  but  as  shared  by  God  and  heaven.'" 

Now  man  is  sacred  because  he  is  essentially  akin  to  God, 
because  there  is  a  Godhead  within  him.  Sin  disfigures  the 
image  of  God  in  man.  It  often  lies  dormant  and  undeveloped 
because  of  lack  of  attention,  but  the  essential  Godhead  re- 
mains. One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  about  Christ  is 
his  ability  to  see  this  kinship  in  the  life  of  a  man  beneath  all 
the  veneer  of  poverty,  ignorance,  and  sin. 

Perhaps  the  most  marked  characteristic  of  our  time  is 
our  new  appreciation  of  the  value  and  sacredness  of  human 
personality.  Indeed  this  is  the  very  basis  of  our  great  social 
awakening,  and  both  of  these  in  turn  are  the  outgrowth  of 
the  more  careful  understanding  and  interpretation  of  the 

message  of  Christ. 

Let  all  harmonies 
Of  sound,  form,  color,  motion,  wait  upon 
The  princely  guest,  whether  in  the  soft  attire 
Of  leisure  clad,  or  the  coarse  frock  of  toil, 
And  lending  life  to  the  dead  form  of  faith, 
Give  human  nature  reverence  for  the  sake 
Of  one  who  bore  it,  making  it  divine 
With  the  ineffable  tenderness  of  God ; 
Let  common  need,  the  brotherhood  of  prayer. 
The  heirship  of  an  unknown  destiny. 
The  unsolved  mystery  round  about  us 
Make  a  man  more  precious  than  the  gold  of  Ophir. 

— IVhitticr's  "Among  the  Hills." 

^■'Teachings  of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles,"  p.   115. 


yo  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"Every  one  that  doeth  sin  doeth  also  lawlessness ;  and  sin  is  law- 
lessness."   (i  John  iii.  4.) 

"Jesus  answered  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Every  one 
that  committeth  sin  is  the  bond  servant  of  sin."     (John  viii.  34.) 

"For  the  wages  of  sin  is  death ;  but  the  free  gift  of  God  is  eternal 
life  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."     (Rom.  vi.  23.) 

"To  him  therefore  that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to 
him  it  is  sin."    (Jas.  iv.  17.) 

PART  4.  WHAT  IS  SIN? 

Jesus  says  that  the  whole  law  can  be  summed  up  in  love 
for  God  and  love  for  our  fellow-men.  Sin  is  defined  in  the 
New  Testament  as  the  transgression  of  the  law — that  is,  sin 
is  disregard  of  God  and  of  my  fellow-men.  St.  Paul  says : 
"He  that  loveth  his  neighbor  hath  fulfilled  the  law."  (Rom. 
xiii.  8.) 

John  speaks  of  the  sinner  as  being  a  bond  servant,  as  being 
under  dominion.  Sin  must  be  a  principle  of  the  soul,  a  mo- 
tive of  life,  an  intention.  It  does  not  necessarily  express 
itself  in  an  act.  Christ  spoke  of  it  as  a  desire  of  the  heart, 
whether  gratified  or  not.  Evidently  sin  is  something  that 
goes  to  the  very  roots  of  a  man's  being.    It  is  fundamental. 

Perhaps  we  may  define  it  as  a  person's  deliberate  atti- 
tude, act,  or  principle  of  life,  which  is  in  nonconformity 
with  the  will  of  God.  It  is  putting  my  will  over  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  known  will  of  God.  In  other  words,  the  sinful 
life  is  the  self-centered  life;  the  righteous  life  is  the  God- 
centered  life. 

Selfishness,  then,  is  the  root  of  sin.  It  is  that  unwilling- 
ness to  love  God  and  men  and  live  on  friendly  terms  with 
them,  which  attitude  renders  one  incapable  of  thinking  of  the 
interest  of  others.  Sin,  therefore,  is  a  great  isolator.  He  who 
will  not  think  of  others  cannot  live  a  social  life.  He  ban- 
ishes himself.  But  personality  can  live  only  through  as- 
sociation with  others.  The  very  term  personality  denotes 
social   relationships.      Hence   the    sinful,   selfish   man    cuts 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         yi 

himself  off  from  that  on  which  his  life  depends.  "The  soul 
that  sinneth  it  shall  die." 

All  sin  bring-s  with  it  a  sense  of  guilt,  a  sense  of  personal 
blameworthiness.  This  is  not  liability  for  punishment,  not 
even  the  fear  of  punishment ;  it  is  the  responsibility  which 
rests  upon  one  when  he  has  committed  a  sin.  From  this 
sense  of  guilt  all  men  seek  to  be  free. 

After  1  had  spoken  on  Sunday  at  the  University  of  Iowa, 
a  man  came  to  my  room  at  the  hotel  to  talk  with  me  about  his 
life.  lie  started  by  telling  me  he  had  not  come  to  talk  re- 
ligion. Then  he  told  me  that  he  was  a  Jew,  but  did  not 
believe  there  was  a  God  or  that  there  was  any  reality  in  sin. 
He  then  told  me  that  he  had  done  a  certain  thing  (a  heinous 
sin,  though  he  did  not  name  it  so),  that  he  had  left  his  home 
to  escape  punishment  and  had  finally  entered  the  university. 
"Now,"  said  he,  "what  I  want  to  know  is,  Will  it  be  all  right 
if  I  live  like  a  gentleman  from  now  on?" 

Looking  straight  at  him  I  said:  "How  long  did  you  say 
dou  have  been  in  the  university?" 

"Three  years." 

"And  have  you  tried  to  be  a.gentleman  all  these  years  ?" 

His  eyes  flashed  fire  as  he  said :  "I  certainly  have." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "Is  it  all,  all  right?" 

For  a  moment  he  seemed  dazed,  and  then,  leaning  for- 
ward, he  said :  O  but  the  memory  of  that  awful  deed ;  how 
can  I  get  rid  of  it?" 

That  is  the  sense  of  guilt  consequent  upon  sin.  Sin  is 
the  destroyer  of  happiness,  the  defiler  of  character,  the  de- 
spoiler  of  homes,  the  death  of  all  real  life.  Sin  deceives 
men.  Sin  makes  men  forget  the  sacred  trusts  of  life.  Sin 
makes  men  slaves.  All  this  and  more  Christ  said  about  sin. 
The  great  need  of  Christianity  to-day  is  to  realize  anew  the 
heinousness  of  sin ;  to  see  w'hat  it  does,  and  how  it  wrecks 
and  blights  and  deadens  and  blackens.  It  is  a  Veritable  body 
of  death — foul,  rotting,  putrefying — and  our  freedom  from 
it  is  our  one  salvation.  The  bitter  cry  of  the  world  is  for 
this  freedom.  It  is  the  heinousness  of  sin  that  gives  point 
and  urgency  to  personal  w-ork.  If  sin  does  these  things  for 
man,  how  can  we  rest  content  without  trying  to  lead  men 
back  from  sin  to  God  ? 

Meditation:  Is  there  a  sin  in  my  heart;  and  do  I  know 
where  to  find  peace?  Do  I  see  other  men  sick  from  sin,  and 
will  I  do  nothing  for  them? 


72  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  he  answering  said,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and 
with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."     (Luke  x.  27.) 

"And  as  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them 
likewise."     (Luke  vi.  31.) 

"Thou  knowest  the  commandments,  Do  not  kill,  Do  not  commit 
adultery,  Do  not  steal.  Do  not  bear  false  witness,  Do  not  defraud, 
Honor  thy  father  and  mother.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Teacher,  all 
these  things  have  I  observed  from  my  youth.  And  Jesus  looking 
upon  him  loved  him,  and  said  unto  him,  One  thing  thou  lackest :  go, 
sell  whatever  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  heaven:  and  come  and  follow  me."  (Mark  x.  19-21.) 


PART  5.  DOES  CHRISTIANITY  OFFER  A  FINAL  STAND- 
ARD FOR  MORALS? 

The  backbone  of  the  Christian  moral  standard  is  the  Ten 
Commandments.  There  we  have  a  definite  command  against 
the  worship  of  idols,  profanity,  Sabbath  desecration,  irrev- 
erence to  parents,  murder,  adultery,  lying,  covetousness. 
As  a  moral  code,  perhaps  this  is  the  best  the  world's  litera- 
ture affords.  But  even  this  is  far  from  sufficient.  It  does 
not  cover  nearly  all  the  relationships  of  life;  and  morality, 
based  on  this  code  alone,  would  be  barren  enough.  Jesus 
Christ  evidently  recognized  this  fact,  so  he  went  beyond  the 
law  to  lay  down  the  precepts  of  the  gospel.  He  took  mo- 
rality out  of  the  single  realm  of  action  and  pushed  it  back 
into  the  realm  of  motive.  He  said  not  only  was  the  man  who 
took  life  a  murderer,  but  even  the  man  who  was  angry  with 
his  brother  and  had  murderous  thoughts  against  him  was 
guilty  of  the  crime. 


DISTINCTIl'E  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.         73 

But  no  code  or  set  of  rules  can  cover  all  cases,  even 
though  that  code  referred  to  the  specific  motives  of  a  man's 
heart.  There  must  be  something  deeper  than  this,  if  the 
moral  standard  is  not  to  be  outgrown.  Most  of  the  failures 
of  religious  sects  in  the  moral  realm  have  arisen  from  an 
attempt  to  follow  literally  a  set  of  rules.  But  men  outgrow 
rules.  They  advance,  but  rules  do  not  advance  with  them ; 
hence  it  arises  that  the  moral  life  of  the  people  may  be  far 
higher  than  the  simple  rules  by  which  they  are  supposed  to 
mold  their  conduct. 

Jesus  Christ  met  this  situation  by  transferring  morals 
into  the  realm  of  life  principles.  He  said  if  you  are  in 
doubt,  then  do  the  thing  which  you  would  want  your  neigh- 
bor to  do  to  you.  Put  ypurself  in  your  neighbor's  place,  and 
ask  what  you  would  then  think  of  your  proposed  action.  If 
from  this  outside  point  you  can  wholly  approve  it,  then  it 
must  be  unselfish  and  worthy.  Thus  the  principle  of  love 
becomes  the  determinant  of  the  quality  of  action.  What- 
ever is  selfish,  whatever  will  hurt  another,  even  though  it 
may  apparently  serve  your  own  ends,  that  thing  is  morally 
wrong. 

In  the  ethics  of  Jesus,  love  is  the  final  standard.  No  act 
which  cannot  pass  that  standard  is  accounted  worthy  or 
moral.  Every  act  which  is  incited  by  the  motive  of  love, 
although  it  may  fall  short  of  its  mark,  nevertheless  has  in 
it  the  quality  of  worthiness  because  it  has  a  worthy  motive 
behind  it. 

In  this  light  lovelessness  is  as  evil  as  passion  or  appetite, 
and  one  can  move  away  from  God  as  rapidly  by  the  one 
road  as  by  the  other.    Selfishness  is  sin,  and  love  is  life. 

This  gives  us  at  once  a  final  and  complete  standard  for 
morals.  The  human  race  being  what  it  is.  can  never  out- 
grow^ unselfish  love :  and  by  as  much  as  that  holy  passion 
grows  in  the  human  heart,  by  just  so  much  will  the  moral 
standards  of  Jesus  be  advanced. 


74 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  should  know  thee  the  only  true 
God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ."  (John 
xvii.  3.) 

"But  when  he  came  to  himself  he  said,  How  many  hired  servants 
of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  here 
with  hunger !  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  say  unto 
him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight :  I  am 
no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son :  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired 
servants.  And  he  arose,  and  came  to  his  father.  But  while  he  was 
yet  afar  oflf,  his  father  saw  him,  and  was  moved  with  compassion, 
and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him.  And  the  son  said  unto 
him.  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight :  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  But  the  father  said  to  his  servants, 
Bring  forth  quickly  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him ;  and  put  a  ring 
on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet :  and  bring  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill 
it,  and  let  us  eat,  and  make  merry :  for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is 
alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is  found.  And  they  began  to  be  merry." 
(Luke  XV.  17-24.) 

"Even  so,  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the 
angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth."     (Luke  xv.  10.) 


PART  6.  WHAT  IS  SALVATION? 

In  the  non-Christian  rehgions  the  most  prominent  element 
in  salvation  is  freedom  from  the  results  of  sin.  Escape 
from  something  unpleasant  or  painful  is  the  heart  of  their 
message. 

Christian  salvation  contemplates  saving  man  from  the  aw- 
ful results  of  sin,  but  it  goes  much  deeper  than  simple  free- 
dom from  punishment.  Sin  brings  with  it  not  only  a  sense 
of  guilt  but  a  state  of  guilt  and  uncleanness.  Christian  sal- 
vation through   repentance  and   forgiveness  removes  both 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


75 


the  sense  of  guilt  and  the  uncleanness  consequent  upon  sin. 
(Cf.  Study  I.) 

Rut  Christian  salvation  is  not  simply  freedom  from  sin 
and  its  guilt,  which  comes  from  suhmitting  one's  self  to  the 
life  of  a  forgiving  Christ ;  it  has  a  positive  content  in  it  that 
brings  one  back  into  proper  relationship  with  those  for 
whom  we  are  made. 

"A  person  is  lost  when  he  gets  away  from  the  person  to 
whom  he  belongs  and  is  in  danger  of  not  getting  back.  One 
person  may  get  away  from  another  without  being  separated 
from  him  in  space.  A  child  who  cares  nothing  for  his 
father,  and  would  be  equally  content  to  go  with  one  of  the 
hundreds  of  persons  passing  him  and  his  father  on  the  street, 
is  more  hopelessly  'lost'  to  his  father  than  is  the  child  who,  a 
block  away  from  his  father,  stands  frightened  and  crying 
for  him."^ 

"If  to  be  lost  is  to  fail  to  care  for  God  as  a  Father  and  for 
men  as  brothers,  then  to  be  'found'  or  to  be  'saved,'  both  of 
which  were  favorite  words  of  Jesus,  is  to  be  brought  to  feel 
a  vital,  personal  interest  in  God  as  a  Father  and  in  men  as 
brothers.    It  is  to  take  one's  proper  place  in  God's  family."" 

To  sum  up  the  teachings  of  studies  one  and  two,  to  be 
saved,  in  Christian  terminology,  means  that  a  man  has  be- 
come sick  of  his  sin ;  has  come  back  to  Christ  in  simple  man- 
hood and  asked  forgiveness ;  has  had  his  sin  forgiven,  his 
sense  of  estrangement  removed;  has  found  a  new  power  for 
life;  and  has  now  taken  his  place  in  the  family  of  God  as  a 
true  son  to  his  Heavenly  Father  and  as  a  true  brother  to 
his  fellow-men,  and  this  is  Life.  No  other  religion  has  any 
such  fundamental  gospel  of  salvation. 

'Bosworth's  "Teachings  of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles,"  p.  ii6. 
*Ibid.,  p.  iia 


76  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  TV.  THE  DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  m  heart:  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For 
my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light."     (Matt.  xi.  28-30.) 

''Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us, 
that  we  should  be  called  children  of  God ;  and  such  we  are.  For 
this  cause  the  world  knoweth  us  not,  because  it  knew  him  not.  Be- 
loved, now  are  we  children  of  God,  and  it  is  not  yet  made  manifest 
what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that,  if  he  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall 
be  like  him;  for  we  shall  see  him  even  as  he  is."     (i  John  iii.  i,  2.) 

"Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always:  again  I  will  say,  Rejoice."  (Phil, 
iv.  4-) 


PART  7.  DOES  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE  SATISFY  THE 
HUMAN  SOUL? 

Jesus  Christ  believed  that  he  could  lead  men  into  such  an 
acquaintance  with  his  Heavenly  Father  that  this  new  fel- 
lowship would  meet  all  their  spiritual  needs.  He  recognized 
that  the  supreme  need  of  the  human  soul  was  fellowship 
wuth  the  divine.  He  therefore  made  provision  for  removing 
the  barriers  which  keep  men  from  such  fellowship,  and 
made  such  a  revelation  of  God  as  has  enabled  men  ever 
since  to  find  a  new  and  growing  friendship  with  a  Father 
God. 

Has  Christianity  satisfied  men  ?  Is  there  anything  to  prove 
that  Christ  was  not  mistaken  in  his  claims  ? 

One  of  the  marvels  of  history  is  the  spirit  of  buoyancy 
and  joy  which  pervades  the  apostolic  writings.  Here  were 
men  living  in  the  midst  of  persecution,  hardships,  privation ; 
and  yet  every  page  of  the  New  Testament  glows  with  the 


DISTINCTIVE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRISTIAXITV.         yy 

splendid  spirit  of  rejoicing.  It  was  a  real  rejoicing  in  tribu- 
lation. Now  this  is  no  stoicism.  It  is  no  hardened  endur- 
ance of  that  which  cannot  be  escaped.  It  is  an  enthusiastic 
rejoicing  which  indicates  that  these  men  have  something 
within  which  fairly  lifts  them  above  physical  discomfort. 
It  is  the  victory  of  a  satisfied  soul  over  the  inconveniences 
and  suffering  of  a  persecuted  body. 

I  have  in  my  library  a  beautiful  print  of  Max's  "Last 
Token,"  the  original  of  which  is  in  the  Metroj)olitan  Art 
Museum,  "^'ew  York.  It  is  the  picture  of  a  martyr  girl  in 
the  den  with  the  wild  animals.  A  monster  tiger  is  just 
coming  out  from  his  bloody  lair  by  her  side.  The  girl  is 
completely  oblivious  of  the  animals,  and  in  her  face  is  writ- 
ten that  glorious  victory  of  the  inner  life  which  made  the 
martyrs  great.  A  religion  which  can  give  such  a  peace  as 
is  written  in  that  beautiful  face  is  the  religion  for  the  rest- 
less souls  of  men. 

Ever  since  Christ  came  into  the  world,  men  have  some- 
how* felt  that  they  could  have  communion  with  him  and  with 
God ;  and  through  that  communion  they  have  come  to  find 
joy  and  peace  and  blessedness.  The  new  gospel  of  redemp- 
tion which  is  being  written  day  by  day  as  men  come  to 
know  Jesus  Christ  is  a  gospel  of  rejoicing.  If  one  had  space 
one  could  cite  literally  hundreds  of  cases  where  men  have 
found  a  life  of  joy  and  peace  through  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
The  testimony  of  those  wtho  are  competent  witnesses  is  that 
Christianity  does  satisfy,  and  this  is  the  final  test  of  reality. 

I  see  thee  not,  I  hear  thee  not, 

Yet  art  thou  oft  with  me; 
And  earth  has  ne'er  so  dear  a  spot 

As  where  I  meet  with  thee. 

Like  some  bright  dream  that  comes  unsought 

When  slumbers  o'er  me  roll, 
Thine  image  ever  fills  my  thought 

And  charms  my  ravished  soul. 

— Roy  Palmer. 


STUDY  V. 

Christ's  Method  of  Extending  the  Kingdom. 

(79) 


So  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

That  which  was  from  the  beginning,  that  which  we  have  heard, 
that  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  that  which  we  beheld,  and  our 
hands  handled,  concerning  the  Word  of  life  (and  the  life  was  mani- 
fested, and  we  have  seen,  and  bear  witness,  and  declare  unto  you  the 
life,  the  eternal  life,  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  manifested 
unto  us)  ;  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  declare  we  unto  you 
also,  that  ye  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us :  yea,  and  our  fellow- 
ship is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ."  (i  John  i. 
1-3.) 


PART  I.  INTRODUCED  INTO  A  VALUE  THROUGH 
TESTIMONY. 

Men  enter  into  the  appreciation  of  values  through  the 
testimony  of  those  who  have  already  experienced  such  val- 
ues. The  sum  of  the  world's  truth  would  be  small  indeed  if 
every  man  had  to  discover  for  himself  through  experience 
each  new  truth.  Through  the  testimony  of  experts  from  a 
thousand  different  fields,  I  enter  into  the  possession  of  values 
which  I  then  verify  by  experience. 

If  I  wish  to  know  the  facts  about  electricity  I  will  go  to 
Mr.  Edison.  He  tells  me  that  he  has  in  his  laboratory  proved 
that  by  using  certain  chemicals  he  can  produce  an  electric 
current.  By  passing  this  current  over  wires  properly  con- 
nected with  transmitters  and  receivers  he  can  talk  to  me  one 
hundred  miles  away.  I  at  once  accept  his  testimony  and, 
taking  down  the  receiver,  call  up  my  friend  one  hundred 
miles  distant.  I  enter  into  this  value  through  the  testimony 
of  another. 

The  testimony  must  come  from  a  competent  witness.  If 
an  African  from  the  Upper  Congo  told  me  about  the  marvels 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  8 1 

of  electricity  I  might  doubt  him,  for  he  has  had  no  way  of 
testing  this  power.  In  order  to  be  a  competent  witness  one 
must  liave  had  first-hand  experiences  with  the  facts. 

Testimony  is  strengthened  when  a  great  many  men  have 
dealt  with  the  same  facts  and  bring  back  similar  reports. 
The  oft-repeated  experience  of  a  witness  brings  conviction 
of  reality.  However,  if  you  alone  in  all  the  world  have  had 
an  experience,  you  wonder  if  you  have  been  deluded.  When 
another  man  reports  the  same  experience  with  the  same 
facts,  you  begin  to  be  confident.  When  a  thousand  men  give 
reports  that  substantiate  your  own,  you  become  morally 
certain  of  your  experience.  The  reality  and  truth  of  a 
testimony  must  be  referred  to  the  judgment  of  all  those  who 
as  experimenters  in  that  realm  are  competent  witnesses. 
When  such  reality  has  been  well  established  we  at  once  be- 
gin to  act  on  the  report  of  the  witnesses.  We  enter  into 
these  values  through  personal  testimony. 

Personal    Thought:   Have   you   any    religious   testimony 
which  you  should  be  passing  on  to  others  ?    Have  you  been 
an  experimenter  in  the  laboratory  of  Christian  character? 
6 


82  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"But  ye  shall  receive  power,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon 
you :  and  ye  shall  be  my  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea 
and  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."     (Acts  i.  8.) 

"Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit :  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  command- 
ed you:  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."     (Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.) 


PART  2.  CHRIST  EXPECTED  MEN  TO  REPORT  THEIR 
EXPERIENCE  TO  OTHERS. 

Christ  wrote  no  book  in  which  he  set  forth  his  teachings. 
He  built  no  monuments  to  commemorate  his  deeds.  He 
asked  no  biographer  to  write  his  hfe  history.  And  yet  Christ 
confidently  expected  that  his  kingdom  should  continue  to 
grow  until  he  had  universal  dominion.  This  seems  a  strange, 
loose  method  of  bringing  in  a  universal  kingdom.  Yet  he 
had  provided  an  effectual  way  of  spreading  this  message. 

He  took  twelve  men  to  be  with  him.  He  taught  them 
some  of  his  own  experience  with  his  Father  God.  He  helped 
them  to  catch  something  of  the  message  of  his  life,  then  he 
sent  them  out  to  bear  testimony  to  their  experience.  He 
expected  each  disciple  to  introduce  the  men  next  to  him  into 
this  greatest  of  all  life  values.  Then  he  expected  each  of 
these  new  experimenters  to  introduce  in  turn  the  people 
whom  they  touched  into  this  same  fundamental  value. 

Christ  expected  each  Christian  man  to  become  a  compe- 
tent witness  as  to  the  reality  of  the  God  friendship.  He  ex- 
pected that  the  growing  number  of  men  who  had  gone  into 
the  laboratorv  of  Christian  life  and  found  a  new  power,  a 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  83 

new  peace,  a  new  joy — he  expected  them  to  come  out  and 
report  what  they  had  found.  To  put  it  plainly,  Christ  chose 
the  most  fundamental  and  the  most  scientific  method  of 
spreading  his  kingdom — personal  testimony. 

Christ  himself  used  this  fundamental  method.  In  the 
midst  of  his  busy  life,  he  was  never  too  hurried  to  sit  down 
with  a  single  soul  and  share  with  it  his  sense  of  God.  Nic- 
odemus,  the  Samaritan  woman,  Zaccheus,  the  blind  man, 
and  many  others  went  out  from  Christ's  presence  with  a 
new  sense  of  God  because  of  Christ's  simple  personal  testi- 
mony. 

Personal  Thought:  Have  you  ever  taken  the  trouble  to 
share  with  your  nearest  friend  the  experience  you  have  had 
with  God? 


84  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"But  an  angel  of  the  Lord  spake  unto  Philip,  saying,  Arise  and 
go  toward  the  south  unto  the  way  that  goeth  down  from  Jerusalem 
unto  Gaza:  the  same  is  desert.  And  he  arose  and  went:  and  behold, 
a  man  of  Ethiopia,  a  eunuch  of  great  authority  under  Candace,  queen 
of  the  Ethiopians,  who  was  over  all  her  treasure,  who  had  come  to 
Jerusalem  to  worship ;  and  he  was  returning  and  sitting  in  his  char- 
iot, and  was  reading  the  prophet  Isaiah.  And  the  Spirit  said  unto 
Philip,  Go  near,  and  join  thyself  to  this  chariot.  And  Philip  ran  to 
him,  and  heard  him  reading  Isaiah  the  prophet,  and  said,  Understand- 
est  thou  what  thou  readest?  And  he  said,  How  can  I,  except  some 
one  shall  guide  me  ?  And  he  besought  Philip  to  come  up  and  sit  with 
him.    Now  the  passage  of  scripture  which  he  was  reading  was  this : 

He  was  led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter ; 

And  as  a  lamb  before  his  shearer  is  dumb. 

So  he  openeth  not  his  mouth. 

In  his  humiliation  his  judgment  was  taken  away: 

His  generation  who  shall  declare? 

For  his  life  is  taken  from  the  earth. 

And  the  eunuch  answered  Philip,  and  said,  I  pray  thee,  of  whom 
speaketh  the  prophet  this?  of  himself,  or  of  some  other?  And 
Philip  opened  his  mouth,  and  beginning  from  this  scripture,  preached 
unto  him  Jesus."     (Acts  viii.  26-35.) 


PART  3.  TESTIMONY  THE  METHOD  OF  EARLY 

CHURCHES. 

Here  is  the  simple  story  of  a  man  who  had  learned  in  the 
laboratory  of  Christ  the  meaning  of  the  God  friendship.  He 
meets  a  man  who  needs  an  interpreter.  He  at  once  gets 
into  the  chariot  and,  through  his  own  experience  leads  the 
eunuch  into  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  Christ.  It  is  a 
case  of  simple  personal  testimony. 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  85 

Rev.  Mr.  Lamb  in  his  little  volume,  "Won  by  One,"  points 
out  the  fact  that  in  the  brief  narrative  of  Christ's  healing 
ministry  twenty  of  the  persons  healed  were  brought  to  him 
by  some  individual — that  is,  through  some  personal  worker. 
He  also  points  out  that  perhaps  none  of  these  persons  would 
ever  have  come  to  Christ  had  they  not  been  brought  by  some 
other  person. 

The  whole  method  of  the  early  Church  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  personal  testimony.  One  can  imagine  that  St. 
Paul,  in  the  Roman  prison  or  confined  in  his  own  house, 
preached  Christ  to  many  a  soldier.  He  bore  simple  testi- 
mony to  the  power  that  had  come  into  his  own  life  through 
contact  with  Jesus. 

This  method  of  work  was  followed  in  the  medieval 
Church.  It  is  reported  of  the  Waldensians :  "He  who  has 
been  a  disciple  for  seven  days  looks  out  some  one  whom  he 
may  teach  in  turn,  so  that  there  is  a  continual  increase." 

This  is  the  method  of  Christian  work  most  in  favor  in  the 
foreign  field  to-day.  I\Ir.  Alott  in  his  latest  book,  "The  De- 
cisive Hour  of  Christian  Missions,"  says:  "It  is  probable 
that  a  larger  proportion  of  Korean  Christians  have  won  oth- 
ers to  Christ  than  of  those  of  the  Church  of  any  other  land." 
(P.  yy.)  Speaking  of  the  same  type  of  work  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Mission  in  Honan,  China,  he  says:  "So  fully  have 
they  accepted  the  practice  of  leading  others  to  Christ  as  a 
necessary  work  of  genuineness  on  the  part  of  the  convert 
that,  as  a  mission,  they  have  decided  not  to  baptize  any  per- 
son unless  he  has  led  some  one  to  Christ."    (P.  179.) 

Personal  Thought:  If  this  test  were  applied  to  me,  what 
would  be  mv  Christian  standing-  ? 


86  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"Now  when  they  beheld  the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John,  and  had 
perceived  that  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  ihey  mar- 
veled; and  they  took  knowledge  of  them,  that  they  had  been  with 
Jesus.  And  seeing  the  man  that  was  healed  standing  with  them,  they 
could  say  nothing  against  it."     (Acts  iv.  13,  I4-) 


PART  4.  TESTIMONY  THROUGH  THE  LIFE. 

The  final  thing  about  testimony  is  the  character  of  the 
witness.  Is  he  one  who  has  had  experience  with  the  facts 
and  can  he  be  trusted  to  report  truly  his  experience  ?  In  the 
case  of  Christian  testimony,  character  is  of  the  essence  of 
the  experience  of  the  witness;  therefore  any  lack  of  char- 
acter disqualifies  us  as  reliable  witnesses.  No  man's  testi- 
mony concerning  the  truth  of  Christ's  gospel  is  valid  unless 
his  character  prove  the  facts  of  his  report. 

Herein,  however,  lies  the  greatest  power  of  the  Christian 
witness.  His  report  is  not  simply  his  words,  but  his  life  is 
the  living  testimony.  W.  W.  Crutchfield  was  the  first  stu- 
dent Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
at  the  University  of  Texas.  When  I  visited  that  institution 
during  his  labors  there  one  man,  reported  to  be  an  atheist, 
came  to  see  me  about  his  life.  He  frankly  told  me  he  had 
claimed  to  be  an  atheist,  but  he  said:  "I  am  not  one  now 
since  Crutchfield  came  here,  for  he  has  a  life  that  no  ordinary 
power  can  explain." 

At  Furman  University  one  day  the  captain  of  the  baseball 
team  and  all  his  men  came  to  my  meeting  wearing  their  suits, 
being  on  the  way  out  to  practice.  The  captain  was  a  fine 
athlete  and  an  influential  student,  but  not  a  Christian  ;  in  fact, 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  87 

quite  profane.  I  asked  the  president  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  to  bring  him  for  an  interview.  The 
president  at  first  refused,  saying  he  had  no  influence.  But  I 
insisted,  and  he  brought  him  after  the  evening  meeting. 
When  the  captain  and  I  were  alone  I  said  I  was  glad  he  had 
com€,  for  he  had  influence  in  college  and  he  ought  to  be  a 
Christian  so  that  his  influence  would  be  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. His  first  word  was:  "There  is  certainly  something  in 
Christianity,  and  if  I  could  be  as  good  a  man  as  the  man  who 
brought  me  to  see  you  I  would  become  a  Christian  at  once." 
A  man's  character  is  of  the  very  essence  of  his  testimony. 

We  do  not  need  to  be  perfect,  but  we  need  to  have  that 
in  us  which  indicates  we  are  moving  God  ward,  if  we  expect 
to  bear  successful  testimony. 

The  best  revelation  of  truth  is  the  life,  hence  Christ  said : 
"Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world ;"  and  Paul  said :  "Ye  are  my 
epistles  known  and  read  of  all  men." 

Miay  every  soul  that  touches  mine, 

Be  it  the  sliglitest  contact,  get  therefrom  some  good, 

Some  little  grace,  one  kindly  thought. 

One  aspiration  yet  unfelt,  one  bit  of  courage  for  the  darkening  sky, 

One  gleam  of  faith  to  brave  the  thickening  ills  of  life. 

One  glimpse  of  brighter  skies  beyond  the  gathering  mists, 

To  make  this  life  worth  while,  and  heaven  a  surer  heritage. 

— Boszvorth's  "Life  of  Christ." 


88  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"So  thou,  son  of  man,  I  have  set  thee  a  watchman  unto  the  house 
of  Israel;  therefore  hear  the  word  at  my  mouth,  and  give  them 
warning  from  me.  When  I  say  unto  the  wicked,  O  wicked  man, 
thou  shalt  surely  die,  and  thou  dost  not  speak  to  warn  the  wicked 
from  his  way ;  that  wicked  man  shall  die  in  his  iniquity,  but  his 
blood  will  I  require  at  thy  hand.  Nevertheless,  if  thou  warn  the 
wicked  of  his  way  to  turn  from  it,  and  he  turn  not  from  his  way ; 
he  shall  die  in  his  iniquity,  but  thou  has  delivered  thy  soul.  And 
thou,  son  of  man,  say  unto  the  house  of  Israel :  Thus  ye  speak, 
saying,  Our  transgressions  and  our  sins  are  upon  us,  and  we  pine 
away  in  them ;  how  then  can  we  live  ?  Say  unto  them.  As  I  live,  saith 
the  Lord  Jehovah,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked; 
but  that  the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live:  turn  ye,  turn  ye 
from  your  evil  ways;  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel?  (Ezek. 
xxxiii.  7-1  !•) 


PART  5.  IS  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY  NECESSARY? 

There  is  no  greater  crime  committed  by  men  than  to  have 
truth  in  their  possession  and  refuse  to  pass  it  on.  We  are 
custodians  of  the  blessings  of  life.  Even  as  low  a  form  of 
power  as  money  cannot  any  longer  be  used  entirely  selfishly. 
The  world  demands  that  its  men  of  great  wealth  shall  use 
such  wealth  in  a  friendly  spirit.  Much  more  is  this  true  of 
intellectual  achievement.  A  physician  who  knew  a  com- 
plete remedy  for  tuberculosis  but  refused  to  pass  it  on  would 
be  branded  as  the  enemy  of  society.  Few  of  us  realize  that 
the  world  needs  a  message  of  God  more  than  it  needs 
money  or  intellectual  truth.  It  is  an  awful  thing  for  a  man 
to  be  the  sepulcher  of  a  real  spiritual  message. 

Many  men  will  never  really  hear  the  Christian  message 
unless  giver*  by  us  personally.     Thousands   never  go  to 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  89 

church.  ]\Iany  of  those  who  do  go  have  their  minds  some- 
where else  during  the  service.  They  never  read  the  Bible, 
they  rarely  read  any  religious  books  or  papers.  Their  minds 
are  simply  never  arrested  by  the  thought  of  God.  There  is 
only  one  way  of  getting  the  attention  of  such  persons,  and 
that  is  through  personal  work.  If  you  sit  down  by  their 
side  you  can  get  their  attention,  and  perhaps  they  can  be 
won. 

There  is  still  another  reason  for  doing  personal  work. 
Some  men  need  counsel  and  encouragement  which  they 
cannot  get  in  public  service.  They  must  have  the  chance 
to  tell  out  their  heart  needs.  They  wall  never  be  won  other- 
wise. After  a  meeting  in  one  of  the  State  institutions 
in  the  South  I  met  a  man  out  on  the  steps  of  the  building 
where  the  meeting  had  been  held.  It  was  dark,  and  I  could 
not  see  what  kind  of  a  man  he  was.  He  said  he  had  heard 
me  speak,  and  I  ventured  to  ask  him  if  he  was  a  Christian. 
He  replied  in  the  negative.  I  asked  him  if  he  would  not  go 
back  to  the  room  with  me  to  talk  it  through.  He  gladly 
accepted,  saying  that  was  the  thing  he  was  hoping  I  would 
ask  him  to  do.  I  found  him  discouraged  and  defeated.  He 
told  me  a  story  which  could  never  have  come  out  in  a  public 
meeting,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  which  I  could  never 
have  helped  him.  After  a  half  hour  we  bowed  together  in 
prayer  and  he  gave  his  heart  to  Jesus  Christ.  ]\Iany  men 
will  never  be  won  unless  some  one  meet  them  sympathetically 
and  help  them  find  Christ. 

Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road, 

Where  the  race  of  men  go  b\' — 
The  men  who  are  good  and  the  men  v/ho  are  bad, 

As  good  and  as  bad  as  I. 
I  would  not  sit  in  the  scorner's  seat 

Nor  hurl  the  cj-nic's  ban  ; 
Let  me  live  in  the  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

Foss's  "The  House  by  the  Side  of  the  Road." 


go  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"He  answered,  The  man  that  is  called  Jesus  made  clay,  and  anoint- 
ed mine  eyes,  and  said  unto  me,  Go  to  Siloam,  and  wash :  so  I  went 
away  and  washed,  and  I  received  sight.  .  .  .  They  say  there- 
fore unto  the  blind  man  again.  What  sayest  thou  of  him,  in  that  he 
opened  thine  eyes?  And  he  said.  He  is  a  prophet.  .  .  .  He 
therefore  answered,  Whether  he  is  a  sinner,  I  know  not :  one  thing 
I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.  .  .  .  The  man 
answered  and  said  unto  them,  Why,  herein  is  the  marvel,  that  ye 
know  not  whence  he  is,  and  yet  he  opened  mine  eyes.  We  know 
that  God  heareth  not  sinners :  but  if  any  man  be  a  worshiper  of  God, 
and  do  his  will,  him  he  heareth.  Since  the  world  began  it  was 
never  heard  that  any  one  opened  the  eyes  of  a  man  born  blind.  If 
this  man  were  not  from  God,  he  could  do  nothing."  (John  ix.  ii,  17, 
25,  30-33) 

PART  6.  THE  NATURE  OF  OUR  TESTIMONY. 

Our  report  must  never  have  the  air  of  stiperiority  about 
it.  Personal  character  is  not  a  thing  about  which  one  dare 
freely  boast.  To  bear  personal  testimony  does  not  mean 
that  the  worker  assumes  to  be  perfect.  It  does,  however, 
mean  that  something  has  come  into  our  lives  which  we  did 
not  have  before,  and  that  something  has  made  a  difference. 
Our  report  will  be  simply  a  statement  of  our  experience  and 
what  we  have  found  coming  into  our  life  because  of  that 
experience. 

First  we  will  say,  perhaps,  that  we  felt  we  were  wrong, 
we  were  dissatisfied  and  unhappy ;  but  now  we  feel  that  the 
wrong  has  been  forgiven  and  we  are  happy.  Secondly,  we 
will  say,  perhaps,  that  before  we  found  ourselves  unable  to 
win  victory,  but  that  now  we  find  it  increasingly  easier  to 
overcome ;  not  that  we  have  attained,  but  that  we  are  at- 
taining.   Then  we  will  say  that  new  values  have  come  to  us. 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  91 

Honesty  and  truthfulness  and  the  common  virtues  have  new 
meaning-.  Then  we  will  say  we  are  growing-  more  sympa- 
thetic with  men.  Somehow  the  fellowship  we  have  with 
Christ  has  made  life  different.  Formerly  we  did  not  care 
much  for  men,  but  now  we  increasingly  love  men  and  want 
to  help  them.  Lastly,  we  can  say  we  are  beginning  to  find 
new  joy  in  fellowship  with  Christ.  When  we  put  ourselves 
in  his  presence  we  find  peace  and  satisfaction.  All  this  has 
come  because  we  so  related  ourselves  to  the  forces  of  the 
spiritual  kingdom  that  we  are  able  to  find  its  truth — that  is, 
we  took  Jesus  Christ  at  his  word ;  we  surrendered  ourselves 
to  him,  and  this  has  been  the  result.  Like  chemists  in  the 
laboratory,  we  have  taken  the  theory  that  Christ  was  real, 
we  have  acted  on  it,  and  the  results  have  proved  him  to  be 
what  he  claims. 

This  is  the  simple,  straightforward  report  of  an  experience 
with  Christ.  We  may  not  be  able  to  say  all  of  these  things. 
We  may  be  new  Christians,  and  only  part  of  this  testimony 
consciously  true  with  us;  we  will  therefore  report  as  a 
scientist  reports,  that  we  have  found  some  facts  and  are 
continuing  our  work  in  the  Christian  laboratory.  We  ex- 
pect our  fund  of  experience  to  grow. 

Needs  must  there  be  one  way,  our  chief, 
Best  way  of  worship :  let  me  strive 
To  find  it,  and  when  found,  contrive 
My  fellows  also  take  their  share. 
This  constitutes  my  earthly  care : 
God's  is  above  it  and  distinct. 
For  I,  a  man,  with  men  am  linked, 
And  not  a  brute  with  brutes ;  no  good 
That  I  experience  must  remain 
Unshared.  — Browning's  "Christmas  Eve." 


92  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  V.  CHRIST'S  METHOD  OF  EXTENDING 
THE  KINGDOM. 

"Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth ;  but  if  the  salt  have  lost  its  savor, 
vi'herewith  shall  it  be  salted?  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing,  but 
to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  Ye  are  the  light  of 
the  world.  A  city  set  on  a  hill  cannot  be  hid.  Neither  do  men  light 
a  lamp,  and  put  it  under  the  bushel,  but  on  the  stand;  and  it  shineth 
unto  all  that  are  in  the  house.  Even  so  let  your  light  shine  before 
men ;  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify  your  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."    (Matt.  v.  13-16.) 

"One  of  the  two  that  heard  John  speak,  and  followed  him,  was 
Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother.  He  lindeth  first  his  own  brother 
Simon,  and  saith  unto  him.  We  have  found  the  Messiah  (which  is, 
being  interpreted,  Christ).  He  brought  him  unto  Jesus.  Jesus 
looked  upon  him,  and  said.  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  John :  thou 
shalt  be  called  Cephas  (which  is  by  interpretation,  Peter)."  (John 
i.  40-42.) 


PART  7.  IS  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY  EFFECTIVE? 

Many  men  wotild  gladly  give  their  personal  testimony  but 
for  the  fact  that  they  feel  it  is  useless.  They  consider  them- 
selves amateurs,  immature  experimenters  in  the  spiritual 
realm,  and  they  doubt  the  effectiveness  of  their  report. 
Such  men  should  remember  that  it  is  not  the  extent  of  their 
experience  but  the  reality  of  such  experience  that  counts. 
If  I  wish  to  interest  you  in  chemistry,  I  do  not  attempt  to  lay 
before  you  at  one  time  the  whole  achievements  of  that  won- 
derful science.  I  choose  out  one  fact,  such  as  the  combina- 
tion of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  to  form  water.  I  make  clear 
to  you  the  process  and  the  practical  uses  to  which  these 
processes  may  be  put.  That  convinces  you  that  chemistry  is 
worth  the  while,  and  you  begin  experimenting  in  chemistry 
yourself.  Similarly,  to  introduce  a  man  to  one  fundamental 
reality  of  Christian  life  will  set  him  working  in  this  realm 
for  himself.  If  I  can  show  by  experience  how  Christ  has 
given  me  a  sense  of  forgiveness,  I  may  not  need  to  do  more. 

This  is  precisely  what  any  genuine  testimony  is  apt  to  do. 
Men  are  all  too  ready  for  a  message  of  reality,  and  if  you 
state  plainly  your  experience  they  are  readily  influenced.  In 
one  of  our  colleges  recently  a  man  whose  brother  is  a  col- 


METHOD  OF  EXTENDING  THE  KINGDOM.  93 

leg:e  man  and  now  on  the  mission  field,  came  up  and  asked 
me  if  I  knew  his  brother.  I  replied  affirmatively,  and  a  few 
words  were  passed.  There  were  a  number  around,  so  I 
asked  him  to  wait  a  moment.  When  I  was  a  little  free  I 
said  to  this  student  that  I  hoped  he  was  a  Christian.  "No, 
he  was  not ;  but  he  know  he  ouf^ht  to  be."  I  spent  five  min- 
utes with  him,  and  then  asked  him  to  keep  this  in  mind  as 
he  worked  in  the  shops  that  afternoon.  That  nij2:ht,  when  I 
called  for  those  who  had  decided  to  be  Christians,  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  stand.  All  he  needed  was  a  simple  w'ord 
of  testimony. 

In  a  Western  Slate  university  there  was  a  fine  fellow  who, 
a  professor  told  me,  was  considered  the  greatest  athlete  in 
the  State.  He  was  clean  and  manly,  but  not  a  Christian. 
I  asked  the  secretary  to  bring  him  to  me  for  an  interview. 
He  came,  and  I  presented  in  brief  outline  what  it  would  mean 
for  him  to  be  a  Christian,  I  tried  to  make  clear  the  reason- 
ableness of  Christian  life.  In  twenty  minutes  he  gave  me  his 
hand  and  said :  "I  will  give  my  life  to  Jesus  Christ,  will  join 
the  Church,  and  go  to  work."  He  just  needed  a  word  of 
personal  testimony.  He  had  been  hearing  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses for  years,  but  Christianity  had  never  been  presented 
to  him  personally. 

At  the  University  of  Illinois  another  splendid  athlete  came 
for  conference.  He  was  in  doubt  about  the  reality  of  Chris- 
tian experience.  A  simple  report  of  what  I  and  thousands 
of  other  men  had  found  to  be  real,  put  in  terms  which  he 
could  understand,  and  he  immediately  said :  "I  will  try." 
An  hour  later  in  a  decision  meeting  he  was  the  first  man  to 
rise  to  declare  his  decision  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ. 

Is  personal  testimony  effective?  H.  Clay  Trumbull  in 
his  "Individual  Work  for  Individuals"  claims  that  he  knows 
of  more  people  won  to  Christ  through  his  personal  testi- 
mony than  through  all  his  public  ministry.  And  yet  he  was 
a  great  public  speaker  with  exceptionally  large  opportu- 
nities. Rev.  John  Timothy  Stone,  pastor  of  the  Brown  Me- 
morial Church,  in  Baltimore,  now  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Chicago,  a  man  who  has  had  exceptional 
opportunity  for  the  public  preaching  of  the  gospel,  bears 
similar  testimony  in  his  volume,  "Recruiting  Men  for  Christ." 
Personal  testimony  has  always  been  effective,  but  perhaps 
never  so  much  as  now,  when  men  are  searching  for  reality 
as  never  before. 


STUDY  VI. 
Why  Men  Neglect  to  Bear  Personal  Testimony. 

(95) 


96  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VI.  WHY  AIEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"But  after  certain  days,  Felix  came  with  Drusilla,  his  wife,  who 
was  a  Jewess,  and  sent  for  Paul,  and  heard  him  concerning  the 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  as  he  reasoned  of  righteousness,  and 
self-control,  and  the  judgment  to  come,  Felix  was  terrified,  and  an- 
swered. Go  thy  way  for  this  time;  and  when  I  have  a  convenient 
season,  I  will  call  thee  unto  me.'     (Acts  xxiv.  24,  25.) 


PART  I.  WE  SHRINK  FROM  ALL  PERSONAL  CONVER- 
SATION. 

Men  naturally  shrink  from  all  personal  conversation.  The 
man  who  asks  personal  questions  may  easily  become  a  nui- 
sance. The  man  who  tells  you  all  his  business  is  a  bore.  We 
like  neither  to  open  our  hearts  to  all  men  nor  to  have  them 
open  their  hearts  to  us.  The  sacredness  of  personality  must 
not  be  forgotten.  Even  the  closest  friendship  does  not  al- 
low us  to  overstep  the  bounds  of  personality.  The  man  who 
uses  his  friendship  as  a  key  to  unlock  the  secret  chambers 
of  your  heart  against  your  will  is  not  a  real  friend,  for  he 
destroys  the  sanctity  of  your  private  life.  These  facts, 
which  are  very  real,  make  many  men  hesitate  to  talk  per- 
sonally about  Christ.  This  is  not  peculiar  to  Christian 
testimony.  We  hesitate  to  talk  to  a  man  about  his  personal 
affairs  or  his  personal  manners ;  indeed,  about  anything  per- 
sonal. Many  Christian  workers  hesitate  to  raise  money 
for  Christian  causes  because  such  money  can  be  gotten  only 
through  personal  association. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  question.  The  very  fact 
that  a  man's  personality  is  sacred  makes  it  unbearable  for 
me  to  stand  by  and  see  that  personality  robbed  of  its  high- 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY. 


97 


est  development.  If  a  man's  personality  were  a  common- 
place thing,  no  one  need  take  the  trouble  to  become  inter- 
ested in  its  upbuilding.  Men  who  refuse  to  bear  personal 
testimony  cither  have  nothing  to  report  or  else  they  do  not 
realize  how  important  it  is  to  help  the  other  man  develop  his 
soul.  It  is  the  very  sacredness  of  personality  which  calls 
out  our  personal  report. 

Some  have  tried  to  convince  themselves  that  no  man  has 
a  right  to  try  to  mold  the  personal  life  of  another.  Let  us 
grant  it.  What  would  it  mean?  It  would  mean  that  no 
minister  could  ever  preach  again,  for  preaching  is  an  at- 
tempt to  help  others  see  life  as  the  preacher  sees  it.  No 
man  could  teach  any  longer,  for  the  teacher's  life  is  not  sim- 
ply dealing  out  cold  facts.  Every  fact  is  enveloped  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  teacher's  personality,  and  of  necessity 
molds  the  life  of  the  student.  No  poet  could  write  again, 
for  poetr}%  real  poetry,  is  the  pouring  out  of  the  soul  of 
man,  and  it  must  of  necessity  affect  life.  No  artist  could 
ever  paint  again,  for  that  is  just  his  attempt  to  interpret  the 
meaning  of  life.  Personal  testimony  as  we  use  it  is  just 
carrying  into  the  most  important  realm  the  message  of  the 
preacher,  the  teacher,  the  poet,  the  artist. 

This  testimony  need  not  be  impertinent  and  prying.  If  I 
have  found  a  value  in  a  great  poem,  it  is  the  joy  of  my  life 
to  pass  that  value  on.  This  is  intensely  personal;  it  is  the 
giving  to  you  the  blessing  of  my  own  soul.  If  I  have  en- 
joyed a  great  picture,  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  I  try  to 
interpret  that  picture  for  you.  If  I  have  a  great  friend- 
ship, my  most  natural  desire  is  to  introduce  my  other 
friends  into  the  delights  of  this  fellowship.  This  is  in- 
tensely personal,  but  it  is  not  intrusion.  Personal  testimony 
is  the  simple  sharing  of  that  which  we  have  with  another. 
If  done  in  the  spirit  of  humility  and  love,  it  cannot  be  con- 
sidered an  impertinence. 


98  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST, 


STUDY  VL  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"And  Moses  said  unto  Jehovah,  O,  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent, 
neither  heretofore,  nor  since  thou  hast  spoken  unto  thy  servant;  for 
I  am  slow  of  speech,  and  of  a  slow  tongue.  And  Jehovah  said  unto 
him,  Who  hath  made  man's  mouth?  or  who  maketh  a  man  dumb, 
or  deaf,  or  seeing,  or  blind?  is  it  not  I,  Jehovah?  Now  therefore 
go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt 
speak.  And  he  said,  O,  Lord,  send  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him 
whom  thou  wilt  send."     (Ex.  iv.  10-13.) 


PART  2.  WE  ARE  LACKING  IN  KNOWLEDGE. 

One  of  the  g-lorious  things  about  Christianity  consists  in 
the  fact  that  its  reality  is  not  proved  by  logic,  but  by  life. 
Experience  is  the  final  word.  Hence  it  arises  that  many 
men  who  have  had  a  genuine  experience  with  Christ  are 
not  able  to  give  clear  expression  to  what  has  happened  in 
their  souls.  The  preceding  studies  have  been  written  to 
help  such  persons  to  give  expression  to  the  reality  of  which 
they  are  aware. 

There  are  other  people  who  are  not  satisfied  with  expe- 
rience; they  want  to  go  behind  that  and  find  the  basis  of 
that  experience.  Two  of  the  following  studies  will  be  given 
to  the  problem  of  reality,  or  what  truth  is  behind  these  ex- 
periences. 

To-day  I  wish  to  urge  three  distinct  lines  of  preparation. 
First,  every  Christian  should  study  how  others  have  been 
used  in  leading  men  to  Christ.  Secure  H.  Clay  Trumbull's 
"Individual  Work  for  Individuals."  You  can  read  it 
through  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon.  It  will  indicate  how  he 
dealt  with  many  different  persons. 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY.  99 

Every  Christian  should,  secondly,  study  the  New  Testa- 
ment anew  with  this  thought  in  niinJ.  Read  a  whole  Gospel 
on  a  Sabbath  afternoon  to  see  how  Christ  and  his  disciples 
worked  with  different  types  of  individuals.  A  Gospel  can 
be  read  completely  in  two  hours.  We  need  for  our  own 
lives  to  know  more  about  what  Christ  taught  as  the  essence 
of  Christianity. 

Thirdly,  I  would  like  to  sugg^est  that  you  begin  the  habit 
of  having  a  few  moments  for  Bible  study  and  prayer  each 
morning  before  you  go  to  your  day's  tasks.  Keep  in  your 
Bible  a  list  of  persons  for  whom  you  are  praying.  Some  one 
has  said  that  we  have  no  right  to  talk  to  a  man  about  his 
life  until  we  have  prayed  for  him.  You  cannot  long  con- 
tinue these  processes  of  preparation  without  beginning  to 
share  your  message  with  others. 

I\Ien  and  women  lightly  excuse  themselves  from  personal 
work  on  the  basis  of  insufficient  knowledge.  I  very  se- 
riously raise  the  question  to-day  whether  that  is  a  legitimate 
excuse  which  God  can  or  will  accept.  This  matter  is  so  im- 
portant that  no  Christian  dare  be  either  an  idler  or  a  bun- 
gler. We  are  duty  bound  as  Christians  to  learn  to  help 
others.    God  will  accept  no  plea  of  ignorance. 

For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 

That  nourish  a  bHnd  life  within  the  brain, 

If  knowing  God  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 

Both  for  themselves  and  for  those  who  call  them  friend  ? 

For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 

Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God. 

— Tennyson's  "The  Passing  of  Arthur." 


lOO  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VI.  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that 
bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace,  that  bringeth  good  tid- 
ings of  good,  that  publisheth  salvation,  that  saith  unto  Zion,  Thy 
God  reigneth  !  The  voice  of  thy  watchmen  !  they  lift  up  the  voice, 
together  do  they  sing;  for  they  shall  see  eye  to  eye,  when  Jehovah 
returneth  to  Zion."     (Isa.  Hi.  7,  8.) 

"When  Jesus  saw  him  lying,  and  knew  that  he  had  been  a  long 
time  in  that  case,  he  saith  unto  him,  Wouldest  thou  be  made  whole? 
The  sick  man  answered  him.  Sir,  I  have  no  man,  when  the  water  is 
troubled,  to  put  me  into  the  pool :  but  while  I  am  coming,  another 
steppeth  down  before  me."     (John  v.  6,  7.  ) 


PART  3.  FEAR  THAT  MEN  WILL  RESENT  OUR  TESTI- 
MONY. 

]^1any  Christians  fear  to  speak  to  another  person  about  the 
Christ  friendship  lest  it  will  be  resented.  This,  however, 
assumes  that  we  are  forcing-  on  others  that  which  is  not  worth 
having-.  You  do  not  fear  to  give  a  friend  a  beautiful  Christ- 
mas present,  sharing  with  him  your  blessings  of  life.  But 
you  do  hesitate  to  share  with  him  your  experience  with  Him 
who  made  the  Christmas  and  gave  to  it  all  its  present  signifi- 
cance. Instead  of  fearing  to  share  with  others,  we  should 
rejoice  to  do  so. 

"How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him 
that  bringeth  good  tidings." 

The  fact  is,  that  men  do  not  resent  this  simple  testimony. 
I  have  talked  personally  with  I  suppose  thousands  of  college 
men  in  the  last  ten  years.  In  all  these  years  I  have  had  only 
two  men  who  resented  what  I  said.  One  of  these  was  asked 
to  come  under  false  pretenses.  He  was  told  I  sent  for  him, 
and  I  had  not,  for  I  did  not  know  him.  He  became  very 
angry,  and  I  do  not  wonder  at  it.  But  somehow  God 
blessed  the  intenaew,  and  the  second  man  I  met  on  the 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY.  loi 

campus  the  next  year  was  this  man.  He  said  he  could  not 
get  away  from  the  interview,  but  had  become  a  Christian 
and  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Other  men  who  liave  made  it  a  practice  to  talk  with  men 
about  the  meaning  of  the  Christ  friendship  have  borne  the 
same  testimony. 

My  observation  proves  that  men  will  deeply  appreciate 
your  thought  of  them.  A  Japanese  student  at  Yale  went 
with  his  fellow-students  up  to  the  Northfield  Student  Con- 
ference. One  of  our  secretaries  discovered  he  was  not  a 
Christian  and  went  to  him  to  talk  it  over.  The  Japanese  stu- 
dent said  he  had  wanted  to  talk  that  through  with  some  one, 
but  no  student  had  opened  the  subject.  He  said  he  had  even 
come  to  Northfield  hoping  that  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Conference  some  of  them  would  talk  with  him.  But  no  man 
approached  him.  "Sir,  I  have  no  man,  when  the  water  is 
troubled,  to  put  me  into  the  pool."  This  is  the  despair  of 
many  a  hungry  soul.  They  are  about  us  on  every  hand, 
waiting  for  us  to  help  them  into  that  life  which  we  say  is 
blessed.  They  will  not  resent  it;  rather  they  are  waiting 
and  expecting  that  we  shall  say  a  word. 

Some  years  ago,  at  \'anderbilt  University  in  a  Sunday 
afternoon  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, Fletcher  Brockman,  then  a  student,  was  the  leader. 
Brockman  tells  of  how  during  the  service  one  student  asked 
for  prayer.  After  the  meeting  Brockman  went  with  him 
out  on  the  pike  for  a  long  walk,  expecting  to  talk  with  him 
about  his  Christian  life.  But  Brockman  was  afraid  and 
kept  putting  it  off  until  the  walk  was  ended  and  nothing  said. 
About  a  month  later  this  man  openly  confessed  Christ  and 
Brockman  took  his  hand  and  told  him  how  glad  he  was  for 
the  decision.  Brockman  said  the  man  looked  him  squarely 
in  the  face  and  said :  "Yes,  Brock ;  but  you  are  the  man  who 
would  have  let  me  go  to  hell.  That  Sunday  afternoon  we 
walked  together  I  hoped  every  minute  you  would  offer  to 
help  me,  but  you  did  not." 

Meditation:  Do  you  suppose  any  of  your  friends  ever 
think  it  strange  that  you  do  not  share  this  supreme  interest 
of  vour  life  with  them? 


I02  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VL  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"And  Jehovah  said,  I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people 
that  are  in  Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  task- 
masters ;  for  I  know  their  sorrows ;  and  I  am  come  down  to  deliver 
them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  bring  them  up  out 
of  that  land  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey;  unto  the  place  of  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Hittite,  and 
the  Amorite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and  the  Hivite,  and  the  Jebusite.  And 
now,  behold,  the  cry  of  the  children  of  Israel  is  come  unto  me :  more- 
over I  have  seen  the  oppression  wherewith  the  Egyptians  oppress 
them.  Come  now  therefore,  and  I  will  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,  that 
thou  mayest  bring  forth  my  people  the  children  of  Israel  out  of 
Egypt.  And  Moses  said  unto  God,  Who  am  I,  that  I  should  go  unto 
Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should  bring  forth  the  children  of  Israel  out  of 
Egypt?"     (Ex.  iii.  7-11.) 

"And  Moses  answered  and  said,  But,  behold,  they  will  not  believe 
me,  nor  hearken  unto  my  voice ;  for  they  will  say,  Jehovah  hath  not 
appeared  unto  thee."     (Ex.  iv.  i.) 


PART  4.  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY  REVEALS  THE  WEAK- 
NESS OF  THE  WITNESS. 

No  man  can  give  a  greater  message  than  he  really  lives. 
Emerson  said :  "What  you  are  thunders  so  loud  in  my  ears 
that  I  cannot  hear  what  you  say."  In  our  last  study  we 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  a  man's  life  is  a  part  of  his 
testimony.  Moses  did  not  want  to  go  back  to  Egypt  because 
he  had  left  an  unsavory  record  behind.  He  doubtless  feared 
the  people  would  not  follow  him  because  he  was  a  murderer. 
No  man  of  us  can  bear  his  best  testimony  when  unforgiven 
sin  remains  in  his  life. 

Personal  testimony  tests  the  genuineness  of  life.  Here, 
face  to  face  with  men,  all  that  is  weak  comes  to  the  surface. 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY. 


103 


We  cannot  hide  behind  the  protection  of  a  pulpit  or  a  teach- 
er's desk  or  an  editor's  table.  We  are  face  to  face  with  life. 
In  that  close  relationship  men  can  look  into  our  very  souls. 
We  cannot  hide  the  weaknesses  there.  It  is  this  that  some- 
times makes  us  shrink  from  speaking  to  the  other  man. 

When  a  man  is  speaking  to  a  crowd  he  can  uce  general 
terms,  but  when  one  begins  talking  to  an  individual  he  must 
be  specific.  If  he  has  no  real  experience  to  relate,  he  cannot 
cover  up  that  weakness.  Generalities  will  do  for  an  exhorta- 
tion, but  will  never  pass  for  personal  testimony. 

Personal  Prayer:  "O  God,  take  out  of  my  life  the  weak- 
nesses and  sin  which  rob  me  of  power  for  service." 


104 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VI.  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"And  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  saying,  Whom  shall  I  send, 
and  who  will  go  for  us?  Then  I  said,  Here  am  I;  send  me."  (Isa. 
vi.  8.) 


PART  S.  WE  WANT  TO  SERVE  IN  THE  EASIEST  WAY. 

In  this  day  of  organization  it  is  easy  to  get  into  the  habit 
of  doing  our  religious  work  by  proxy.  It  is  so  convenient 
to  send  a  check  to  the  Associated  Charities  and  expect  them 
to  see  that  all  the  poor  are  cared  for.  It  is  convenient  and 
soothing  to  drop  a  quarter  into  the  Salvation  Army  kettle 
just  to  make  it  boil  well  for  some  poor  wretch.  How  very 
convenient  to  put  five  or  ten  or  a  hundred  dollars  into  the 
Christmas  purse  which  will  send  coal  and  provisions  to  chil- 
dren who  would  not  otherwise  have  any  Christmas. 

All  this  is  good,  but  not  if  it  makes  us  feel  satisfied  that 
we  have  done  our  part.  The  supreme  need  of  men  and 
women  and  little  children  is  not  dinners  or  coal  or  clothes. 
They  need  sympathy  and  love  and  fellowship.  They  need 
courage  and  character.  You  cannot  send  these  through  the 
mail.  They  can  be  given  only  by  contagion  of  personality. 
The  slow,  hard,  uncomfortable  process  is  to  learn  to  know 
the  heart  needs  of  a  few  of  these.  Know  them  so  well  that 
you  can  meet  their  hunger  of  soul.  Then  you  will  have  to 
give  your  very  soul  with  your  money. 

Not  a  few  religious  workers  are  also  trying  to  do  their 
Christian  work  in  the  easiest  way.  They  find  it  much  easier 
to  give  a  public  address  or  to  preach  to  a  crowd  than  to 
hunt  out  men  one  by  one  and  try  to  lead  them  into  fellow- 
ship with  Christ.  "It  requires,"  said  Bossuet,  "more  faith 
and  courage  to  say  two  words  face  to  face  with  one  single 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY.  105 

sinner  than  from  the  pulpit  to  rebuke  two  or  three  thou- 
sand persons,  ready  to  Hsten  to  everything  on  condition  of 
forgetting  all." 

What  we  need  is  more  of  the  giving  of  ourselves  with 
our  Christian  work.  It  is  men  and  not  things,  life  and  not 
speeches,  that  people  need.  This  is  personal  work,  and  will 
lead  others  to  Christ.    This  is  costly,  but  it  pays. 

Not  what  we  give  but  what  we  share. 

For  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare; 

Who  gives  himself  with  his  alms  feeds  three — 

Himself,  his  hungering  neighbor,  and  me. 

— Lozvell's  "Vision  of  Sir  Launfal." 


io6  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VI.  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"As  it  is  written,  There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one;  there  is 
none,  that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God." 
(Rom.  iii.  lO,  ii.) 

"For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose 
or  forfeit  his  own  self?"  (Luke  ix.  25.) 

"And  cast  ye  out  the  unprofitable  servant  into  the  outer  darkness : 
there  shall  be  the  weeping  and  the  gnashing  of  teeth."  (Matt. 
XXV.  30.) 


PART  6.  WE  DO  NOT  REALIZE  THE  DESPERATE  NEED 

OF  MEN. 

Jesus  believed  that  men  who  were  not  associated  with 
him  were  in  desperate  need.  A  man  might  have  abundance 
of  worldly  goods  or  learning  or  social  position,  but  if  he  did 
not  know  Christ  he  was  irretrievably  lost.  This  thought 
made  him  weep  over  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  It  was 
the  sense  of  the  sin  and  need  of  men  that  weighed  down  on 
his  soul  as  he  hung  on  the  cross,  until  his  heart  broke  with 
the  agony.  It  seems  practically  certain,  from  a  scientific 
standpoint,  that  Jesus  did  not  die  of  physical  pain  alone,  but 
of  mental  suffering.  He  saw  as  none  of  us  see  the  real  con- 
dition of  men.  He  looked  beneath  the  veneer  of  wealth  and 
culture  and  power  into  the  dark  and  lonely  depths  of  sin- 
sick  souls. 

If  we  could  get  away  from  the  conception  of  life  as  ma- 
terial prosperity,  we  would  see  men  as  they  really  are, 
walking  about  in  all  their  barrenness  and  wretchedness  and 
sin.  Browning  represents  Lazarus  as  having  an  entirely 
new  perspective  of  life  because  he  had  seen  into  eternity 
and  caught  the  real  standard  of  values.    Discourse  of  armies 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY.  107 

meant  nothing  to  him.  The  death  of  his  child  seemed  not 
to  touch  him,  hut  the  sin  of  his  child  startled  him  into  agony. 
Most  of  us  are  blind  to  the  real  needs  of  men.  We  do 
not  know  their  battles  and  we  pass  them  lightly  by,  suppos- 
ing all  within  is  as  calm  as  a  summer  sea.  But  hidden  from 
us  is  the  awful  struggle  of  a  sin-sick  soul. 

"We  smile,  but  O,  great  Christ,  our  cries 
To  thee  from  tortured  souls  arise." 

I  only  wish  I  could  take  each  reader  with  me  to  any  one 
of  the  colleges  I  visit  and  let  him  hear  the  call  that  comes 
from  some  of  the  strongest  men  in  college — a  call  for  a  power 
by  which  they  may  win  victory.  It  would  break  the  heart  of 
any  man  to  know  the  awful  struggle  in  the  lives  of  these 
men. 

In  a  \'irginia  college  one  man  recently  told  me  of  his  ter- 
rible battle  with  drink.  In  a  Western  university  another 
man,  within  a  month  of  this  writing,  told  me  of  his  desper- 
ate struggle  with  passion.  In  the  past  two  months  I  have 
talked  with  a  number  of  men  in  the  midst  of  a  battle  with 
doubt.  On  every  hand  there  are  men  who  are  battling  with 
selfishness  and  losing  the  battle.  If  men  only  realized  what 
a  common  thing  temptation  is!  If  we  only  saw  the  forces 
that  are  destroying  character!  If  we  only  saw  as  Christ  saw 
— that  sin  means  separation  from  God,  and  all  men  who  are 
not  Christ's  are  lost — we  would  all  be  personal  workers. 

Prayer:  "O  God,  help  me  to  be  sensitive  to  the  suffering 
and  sin  of  the  world.  Even  though  it  be  painful,  keep  me 
keenly  conscious  of  the  needs  of  men.  Help  me  to  point 
men  to  the  Christ  who  alone  can  give  peace." 


I08  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VI.  WHY  MEN  NEGLECT  TO  BEAR  PER- 
SONAL TESTIMONY. 

"Then  said  I,  Woe  is  me !  for  I  am  undone ;  because  I  am  a  man 
of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips : 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of  hosts.  .  .  .  And 
I  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  saying.  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who 
will  go  for  us?    Then  I  said,  Here  am  I;  send  me."    (Isa.  vi.  5,  8.) 

"Surely  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  do  nothing,  except  he  reveal  his 
secret  unto  his  servants  the  prophets.  The  lion  hath  roared;  who 
will  not  fear?  The  Lord  Jehovah  hath  spoken;  who  can  but  proph- 
esy?"   (Amos  iii.  7,  8.) 


PART  7.  OUR  RELATION  TO  CHRIST  IS  NOT  SUCH  AS  TO 
BEGET  A  SENSE  OF  MESSAGE. 

"Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  our  Lord?"  These  are  the  tri- 
umphant words  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  They  were  his  de- 
fense when  attacked,  as  they  were  also  his  inspiration  in 
the  midst  of  difficulty.  This  was  the  motive  power  of  his 
life.  His  soul  fairly  glowed  when  he  thought  how  near 
Jesus  was  to  him.  It  was  Paul's  sense  of  fellowship  with 
Christ  which  gave  him  his  sense  of  message. 

Isaiah's  sense  of  message  came  from  a  vision  of  God-, 
He  felt  he  knew  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  at  once  he 
heard  the  call  to  service. 

Amos,  that  wonderful  shepherd  prophet,  who  in  the  lone- 
ly hills  of  Tekoa  had  learned  to  know  God,  had  a  sense  of 
message.  Cornill  has  called  Amos  one  of  the  greatest 
figures  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind.  He  was  simply 
a  shepherd,  but  he  had  met  God  out  there  as  he  watched 
his  sheep  under  the  clear  Judean  sky.  Amos  could  not  re- 
fuse to  speak.  God  had  spoken  to  him,  and  he  must  go  up 
to  Israel  and  try  to  win  back  God's  people.  If  ever  you  see 
a  human  being  living  in  sin,  if  somehow  you  know  that  God 


NEGLECT  OF  PERSONAL  TESTIMONY.  109 

yearns  to  save  that  bcin^;  from  a  ruined  life,  do  not  turn 
away  from  the  thought ;  it  is  God's  call  to  you  for  service. 

The  personal  worker  must  have  a  sense  of  message.  He 
must  have  gone  into  the  spiritual  laboratory  as  did  Paul  and 
Isaiah  and  Amos,  and,  having  met  God,  then  he  must  come 
out  to  tell  the  waiting  people.  The  greatest  need  of  our  day 
is  for  men  with  an  overwhelming  sense  of  message — such  a 
sense  of  message  that  they  cannot  get  away  from  it — men 
who  have  experienced  a  reality  so  tremendous  that  they 
must  make  their  report. 

He  who  has  such  a  sense  of  message  will  be  a  personal 
worker.  If  we  have  met  God  we  will  want  to  lead  others  to 
meet  him  too.  If  we  have  not  such  a  sense  of  God's  near- 
ness, then  we  should  put  ourselves  daily  in  his  presence 
through  Bible  study  and  prayer  until  we  begin  to  know  that 
he  is  real. 

O  could  I  tell,  ye  surely  would  believe  it — 

O  could  I  only  say  what  I  have  seen ; 
How  should  I  tell  or  how  can  ye  receive  it, 

How  till  he  bringeth  you  where  I  have  been? 

Therefore,  O  Lord,  I  will  not  fail  nor  falter ; 

Nay,  but  I  ask  it,  nay,  but  I  desire. 
Lay  on  my  lips  thine  embers  off  the  altar, 

Seal  with  the  sting,  and  furnish  with  the  fire. 

Quick  in  a  moment,  infinite  forever. 

Send  an  arousal  better  than  I  pray: 
Give  me  a  grace  upon  the  faint  endeavor. 

Souls  for  my  hire  and  Pentecost  to-day. 

— Myers's  "St.  Paul." 


STUDY  VII. 

How  TO  Awaken  the  Indifferent  and  Self-Satisfied. 

(Ill) 


112  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VII.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper;  and  he  bade  many:  and 
he  sent  forth  his  servant  at  supper  time  to  say  to  them  that  were 
bidden,  Come;  for  all  things  are  now  ready.  And  they  all  with 
one  consent  began  to  make  excuse.  The  first  said  unto  him,  I  have 
bought  a  field,  and  I  must  needs  go  out  and  see  it;  I  pray  thee  have 
me  excused."    (Luke  xiv.  16-18.) 


PART  I.  CAUSES  OF  INDIFFERENCE. 

Indifference  seems  to  arise  from  one  of  three  causes. 
First,  a  man  may  assume  a  forced  indifference  because  he 
dreads  to  face  the  results  of  his  sin.  This  applies  to  many. 
Once  at  Howard  College,  Alabama,  a  student  told  me  the 
story  of  a  very  sinful  life.  I  asked  him  to  go  back  to  his 
room,  lock  the  door,  and  there  alone  face  his  sin  in  the 
presence  of  God.  He  said  he  could  not  do  that.  "But,"  I 
said,  "that  cannot  hurt  you,  and  it  certainly  is  the  fair  thing 
to  do."  "Yes,"  he  said ;  "but  I  dare  not  be  alone  with  God 
in  the  presence  of  my  sins  for  half  an  hour."  ]\Tany  are 
afraid  to  be  alone  and  face  their  sins.  They  assume  an  in- 
difference because  their  conscience  hurts  them  when  they 
allow  themselves  to  think  seriously. 

Then  there  is  an  indifference  of  preoccupation.  Business 
is  so  pressing  that  many  a  man  never  thinks  about  religious 
affairs.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  get  his  attention  for 
religious  thought  even  on  the  Sabbath.  Or  if  the  person  with 
whom  you  are  dealing  be  in  social  life,  the  engagements  are 
so  constant  and  exacting  that  religious  life  has  little  chance. 
Or  if  he  be  a  student,  athletics  and  fraternities  and  socials 
and  study  take  every  hour  of  his  time.  Many  men  are  not 
intentionally  irreligious,  but  they  are  preoccupied. 


HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT. 


"3 


There  is  a  third  type  of  indifference  due  to  undervahiation. 
Many  people,  men  especially,  do  not  think  religion  has  any 
real  messag-e.  They  think  it  is  a  diversion  of  the  mystical, 
but  as  for  practical  power  it  has  none.  Religion  has  so  long 
been  taught  with  preponderating  emotional  elements  that 
men  with  battles  to  fight  and  big  things  to  do  frequently 
feel  they  can  well  afford  to  do  without  it.  One  can  readily 
see  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  three  types,  and  the 
method  of  work  in  dealing  with  each  will  be  different  from 
that  of  the  other  two. 

Personal  Thought:  Has  your  indifference  to  personal  work 
been  due  to  undervaluation  of  the  power  of  religion  to  help 
the  other  man  ? 
8 


J 14 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VII.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"Be  noble,  and  the  nobleness  that  lies  in  others,  sleeping,  but 
never  dead,  shall  rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own." 

"The  office  of  a  friend  is  to  make  us  do  what  we  can." 

"As  in  water  face  answereth  to  face, 
So  the  heart  of  man  to  man." 

(Prov.  xxvii.  19.) 

PART  2.  THE  CONTAGION  OF  CHARACTER. 

Character  is  caught  and  not  taught ;  it  is  the  precept  both" 
of  psychology  and  sociology.  We  gain  character  by  con- 
tact with  character.  Henry  Drummond  used  to  say  he  be- 
came a  part  of  every  man  he  met,  and  every  man  he  met 
became  a  part  of  him.  When  Coleridge  was  asked  the 
secret  of  his  life  he  simply  answered :  "I  had  a  friend." 

The  most  powerful  influence  that  can  be  brought  to  bear 
on  an  indifferent  man  is  the  personality  of  a  God-filled  soul. 
Become  a  friend  to  your  indifferent  person.  Spend  some 
time  with  him.  Do  not  fear  to  let  him  know  the  great,  deep 
things  in  which  you  are  interested.  If  he  really  believes  in 
you  he  will  soon  begin  to  believe  in  your  power  of  life.  If 
you  cannot  become  a  friend  to  the  indifferent  person,  get 
some  other  strong  person  to  do  so. 

The  greatest  testimony  for  Christ  is  the  consistent  daily 
life  of  a  Christlike  person,  followed  with  an  open  report  of 
how  that  life  has  grown.  When  the  great  French  skeptic 
visited  the  mystic  Fenelon  he  came  away  saying:  "If  I  stay 
here  much  longer  I  will  be  a  Christian  in  spite  of  myself." 

I  once  had  a  little  mannerism  from  which  I  tried  to  get 
free.  But  like  most  habits,  it  was  not  easily  broken.  One 
day  a  friend,  for  whom  I  had  great  admiration,  called  this 


HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT.  115 

to  my  attention,  thinking  I  was  not  aware  of  it.  I  do  not  re- 
member ever  falling-  into  it  again.  This  is  the  contagion  of 
character.  In  the  student  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  many  a  young  secretary  has  unconsciously 
adopted  the  mannerism  of  John  R.  Moft,  the  head  of  that 
work.    It  is  the  contagion  of  a  strong  character. 

If  you  can  put  your  indifferent  person  into  the  presence 
of  a  living  friend  of  Christ  for  a  little  while  each  day,  he 
cannot  long  remain  indifferent.  This  is  not  easy  work;  it 
will  miean  sacrifice  and  the  giving  up  of  other  things,  but  it 
is  worth  the  price. 


Il6  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VII.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  The  sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not 
man  for  the  sabbath."     (Mark  ii.  27.) 

"Are  not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two  pence?  and  not  one  of  them 
is  forgotten  in  the  sight  of  God.  But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head 
are  all  numbered.  Fear  not :  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  spar- 
rows."    (Luke  xii.  6,  7.) 


PART  3.  HELP  THE  INDIFFERENT  MAN  TO  REALIZE 
THE  VALUE  OF  HIS  OWN  PERSONALITY. 

Jesus  exalted  personality  above  all  institutions.  Even  the 
Sabbath  itself  must  not  be  set  over  in  opposition  to  the  ul- 
timate good  of  a  man.  Man  is  the  final  element  in  creation, 
and  all  else  must  bend  to  the  making  of  an  environment  in 
which  he  shall  find  full  development.  Jesus  represents  God 
as  intensely  interested  in  every  human  personality.  Although 
his  power  upholds  the  universe,  and  all  creation  is  dependent 
upon  the  working  of  that  efficient  will,  still  God  is  not  in- 
diflferent  to  the  least  individual.  Men  have  denied  the  effi- 
cacy of  prayer  on  the  basis  of  man's  insignificance,  but  this 
is  a  false  assumption.  Significance,  according  to  Christ,  is 
not  measured  in  physical  terms.  If  it  were,  an  elephant 
would  be  much  more  significant  than  a  man.  Real  value  is 
measured  in  terms  of  likeness  to  God,  and  by  this  standard 
man  stands  absolutely  supreme. 

One  of  the  things  to  do  for  an  indifferent  man  is  to  get 
him  to  face  the  fact  of  his  real  value.  If  once  he  comes  to 
understand  the  real  meaning  of  his  life  and  God's  interest 
in  it,  the  sense  of  gratitude  ought  to  lead  him  to  religious 
life.  It  is  easy  to  show  a  man  the  heinousness  of  sin  which 
destroys  a  personality  made  in  the  very  image  of  God  and 


HOIV  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT.  ny 

capable  of  companionship  with  the  Creator  and  Sustaincr 
of  the  universe. 

The  most  convincinj^  proof  of  God's  interest  in  men  is  the 
life  and  deatli  of  Jesns  Christ.  Christ  came  into  the  world 
to  show  us  what  kind  of  a  God  we  have ;  how  that  God  hates 
sin  and  loves  men.  Christ  might  easily  have  escaped  death 
if  he  had  not  been  so  deeply  interested  in  men.  But  his 
deep  desire  to  call  man  back  to  his  real  place  in  the  universe, 
his  longing  to  help  man  see  the  degrading  results  of  sin  and 
the  uplifting  power  of  Godlike  love  led  him  so  to  oppose  the 
dead  tradition  and  the  sins  of  the  times  that  embittered  men 
rose  up  and  crucified  him. 

The  essential  meaning  of  the  life  and  death  of  Christ  is 
the  showing  forth  of  the  fact  that  God  loves  men  and  hates 
sin.  Sin  is  hateful  because  it  destroys  the  sacred  personality 
of  a  man.  The  one  way  of  getting  men  to  turn  away  from 
this  destroyer  is  to  show  how  it  affects  the  heart  of  God. 

Put  before  3'our  indifferent  man  the  fact  that  Christ  be- 
lieved his  life  worth  saving.  Put  before  him  the  fact  that 
the  one  way  of  saving  that  personality  is  for  him  to  be  a 
friend  of  Jesus  Christ.  "He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life, 
but  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  the  life." 


Il8  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  Vn.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honorable,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good 
report;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things."     (Phil.  iv.  8.) 

"The  art  of  life  consists  in  paying  attention  to  the  right  things  and 
neglecting  the  rest."    (Jevons.) 

PART  4.  CHARACTER  DETERMINED  BY  THE  THINGS  TO 
WHICH  WE  GIVE  ATTENTION. 

Two  great  forces  enter  into  the  making  of  a  life :  heredity 
and  environment.  The  battle  between  the  respective  advo- 
cates of  these  forces  has  been  waged  long  and  bitterly.  Evi- 
dently heredity  is  a  great  power  in  the  life  of  a  man,  for  he 
must  have  something  to  start  with.  But  it  cannot  be  final, 
else  man  is  no  longer  man  but  a  piece  of  clay  molded  by 
those  forces  which  precede  his  birth,  over  which  forces  he 
has  absolutely  no  control. 

Neither  is  man  completely  without  power  to  discriminate 
between  forces  which  surround  him.  Doubtless  all  persons 
and  all  forces  which  surround  us  do  have  an  influence  on  us, 
but  the  real  environment  of  a  man's  life  is  that  on  which  he 
centers  his  attention.  Three  students  go  to  college  together, 
and  room  together  while  in  college.  One  becomes  an  ath- 
lete, another  a  social  fop,  and  the  third  a  real  student.  The 
same  forces  surround  them,  but  they  center  their  attention 
on  different  portions  of  that  environment.  Only  that  to 
which  one  gives  deliberate  attention  vitally  affects  character. 

Make  it  perfectly  clear  to  the  indifferent  person  that  one 
whole  realm  of  his  life  is  absolutely  dying  because  he  is  giv- 


HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT. 


119 


in^  no  attention  to  the  forces  of  spiritual  life.  Make  it  clear 
that  this  is  by  far  the  most  important  side  of  his  life,  for  it 
is  that  which  connects  him  with  persons,  God  and  men. 
Further,  make  it  clear  to  him  that  persons  are  the  only  per- 
manent and  valuable  realities  in  the  universe.  If  he  is  so 
busy  with  things  that  he  cannot  cultivate  fellowship  with 
persons,  sooner  or  later  he  will  wake  up  to  find  himself  com- 
pletely isolated,  and  all  the  things  which  he  has  gathered 
will  bring  him  no  satisfaction.  Even  knowledge,  the  accu- 
mulation of  facts,  is  useless  unless  one  has  contact  with  per- 
sons. An  abstract  fact  is  as  useless  to  a  man  dissociated 
from  persons  as  is  an  electric  bulb  without  an  electric  cur- 
rent. Life  is  just  the  sum  of  man's  contact  with  various 
personalities. 

The  indifferent  man  is  deliberately  neglecting  to  bring  into 
his  field  of  attention  the  supreme  forces  (persons)  which 
make  character.  He  who  does  not  cultivate  his  relationship 
with  God  and  Jesus  Christ  cannot  possibly  build  the  largest 
character. 

At  the  University  of  Missouri  a  student  came  to  me  and 
said  he  believed  he  had  committed  the  unpardonable  sin. 
When  questioned  as  to  what  it  was  he  was  hopelessly  con- 
fused. When  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  complete  neglect 
of  one's  religious  nature  until  that  nature  had  atrophied  was 
possibly  the  unpardonable  sin,  and  that  life  is  just  the  sum  of 
our  contact  with  persons,  he  immediately  said :  "That  kind 
of  Christianity  is  worth  while."  His  complete  indifference 
to  creeds  and  formulas  was  at  once  set  aside  when  he  came 
to  see  the  importance  of  associating  with  persons. 


I20  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VII.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"And  even  as  they  refused  to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  up  unto  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things  which  are 
not  fitting."     (Rom.  i.  28.) 

"My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge :  because  thou  hast 
rejected  knowledge,  I  will  also  reject  thee,  that  thou  shalt  be  no 
priest  to  me  :  seeing  thou  has  forgotten  the  law  of  thy  God,  I  also  will 
forget  thy  children."     (Hos.  iv.  6.) 


PART  5.  ASK  INDIFFERENT  MEN  TO  FACE  THE  FACTS. 

The  indifference  of  undervaluation  is  always  due  to  the 
lack  of  knowledge.  But  lack  of  knowledge  on  a  fundamental 
question  is  a  crime.  Hosea  again  and  again  calls  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  of  Israel  to  the  fact  that  their  great- 
est sin  is  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  God.  It  lies  back  of  all 
their  sin.  A  man's  mind  is  given  to  him  that  he  may  come  to 
know  the  fundamental  things.  The  excuse,  so  flippantly 
given,  that  we  do  not  know  is  perhaps  the  most  ignoble  con- 
fession of  all.  Ignorance  is  no  excuse  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law.  Neither  is  ignorance  an  excuse  before  God.  No  man 
has  a  right  to  be  ignorant  of  the  facts  which  are  the  very 
foundation  of  character. 

What  are  the  facts?  First,  that  every  man  has  in  him  a 
sense  of  need  for  God.  Does  a  universal  fact  such  as  this 
have  any  meaning?  If  so,  has  any  man  the  right  to  pass  that 
meaning  by  without  knowing  what  it  is  ?  The  second  fact 
is  like  unto  the  first ;  every  man  has  a  sense  of  sin.  He  feels 
himself  undone.  Is  there  any  reality  to  this  feeling?  Does 
it  point  anywhere?  Why  should  it  be  put  in  the  human 
heart  if  there  is  no  fundamental  reason  for  it  ?    What  right 


HOJV  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT.  121 

has  a  nian  to  fail  to  fatlioni  the  meaning-  of  this  stubborn  fact  ? 
The  kind  of  person  Jesus  Christ  was,  the  kind  of  message 
he  brought,  the  kind  of  work  he  did — this  is  a  group  of  facts 
which  challenges  the  attention  of  every  sane  man.  Every 
thinking  man  must  do  something  with  these  facts.  No  man 
wdio  claimls  to  be  intellectually  honest  can  afford  to  pass  over 
facts  like  these — in  their  influence  on  history  the  most  mo- 
mentous facts  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Honesty  of  mind  demands  two  things :  First,  that  a  man 
shall  face  the  facts  of  life  as  they  are.  The  man  who  is  too 
lazy  or  too  indifferent  to  face  the  most  fundamental  facts  of 
life  is  simply  intellectually  dishonest.  No  other  word  will 
express  it.  Secondly,  when  a  man  sees  a  truth  he  must  act 
on  it,  if  he  means  to  keep  his  intellectual  self-respect.  To 
know  truth  and  not  to  act  on  it  to  the  best  of  one's  ability, 
this  is  sin.    It  is  moral  suicide.    It  is  intellectual  dishonesty. 

Bring  your  indift'erent  man  squarely  before  these  facts. 
Help  him  to  see  that  indifference  is  a  sin  against  his  intel- 
lectual self-respect.  Help  him  to  see  that  dishonesty  here 
is  more  awful  in  its  consequences  than  dishonesty  in  connec- 
tion with  the  realm  of  things. 


122  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  Vn.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"Blessed  are  those  servants,  whom  the  Lord  when  he  cometh  shall 
find  watching :  veril}-  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  shall  gird  himself,  and 
make  them  sit  down  to  meat,  and  shall  come  and  serve  them.  And 
if  he  shall  come  in  the  second  watch,  and  if  in  the  third,  and  find 
them  so,  blessed  are  those  servants.  But  know  this,  that  if  the  master 
of  the  house  had  known  in  what  hour  the  thief  was  coming,  he  would 
have  watched,  and  not  have  left  his  house  to  be  broken  through. 
Be  ye  also  ready :  for  in  an  hour  that  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  man 
cometh."     (Luke  xii.  37-40.) 


PART  6.  MEET  THE  EXCUSES  "NO  TIME"  AND  "DON'T 
FEEL  LIKE  IT." 

The  man  who  is  indifferent  because  of  preoccupation  feels 
that  he  has  not  the  time  to  be  a  Christian.  There  are  three 
things  which,  it  seems  to  me,  we  ought  to  say  to  this  man. 
First,  he  finds  time  for  all  things  that  he  really  considers 
worth  while.  If  he  is  genuinely  in  earnest  about  this  time 
question,  then  he  undervalues  Christianity.  If  it  is  worth 
anything,  it  is  well  worth  the  time  necessary.  Make  the  he- 
roic call  for  service. 

Secondly,  I  would  say  to  him  that  it  does  not  take  any 
more  time  to  be  in  a  friendly  attitude  toward  God  and  men 
than  it  does  to  be  in  an  unfriendly  attitude  toward  these  per- 
sons. Christianity  is  not  a  matter  of  time  but  a  matter  of 
spirit. 

Thirdly,  I  would  say  to  him  (and  I  would  be  willing  to 
stake  the  whole  argument  on  this)  that  he  gains  time  by 
being  a  Christian.  Every  person  who  has  any  serious  work 
must  come  to  that  work  in  the  spirit  of  calm  and  composure. 
He  who  does  not  have  himself  well  in  hand,  who  does  not 
hold  the  reins  of  his  life  well  in  his  grip  cannot  hope  to  ac- 


HOir  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT.  123 

complish  f^reat  things.  The  busier  a  man  is  the  more  impor- 
tant that  he  should  have  a  perfect  calm  and  self-control. 
Whatever  will  help  a  man  to  get  this  calm  and  self-control 
will  surely  add  to  his  capacity  for  achievement.  Such  power 
we  claim  for  religious  life.  The  proof  of  this  is  not  far  to 
seek.  The  men  who  have  carried  the  weight  of  the  world's 
burdens  in  all  generations  have  on  the  whole  been  religious 
men.  It  has  been  demonstrated  by  more  than  one  study  that 
the  Christian  men  in  our  colleges  as  a  class  outstrip  the  non- 
Christian  men.  They  ought  so  to  do.  They  have  a  sense  of 
calm,  of  peace,  of  self-control  which  makes  every  hour  count 
for  more  than  it  could  otherwise  do. 

Another  man  objects  that  he  does  not  feel  like  being  a 
Christian.  But  one  cannot  afford  to  live  on  feelings  alone. 
One's  judgment  must  be  given  some  consideration.  Besides, 
all  the  training,  all  the  education  we  have  had  has  been  an 
attempt  to  enable  us  to  feel  as  we  ought  to  act,  and  not  to  act 
as  we  feel.    Duty  and  not  feeling  is  the  supreme  word. 

Some  men  think  that  right  action  when  one  does  not  feel 
right  is  hypocrisy.  But  it  is  far  better  for  a  man  to  feel 
wrong  and  act  right  than  both  to  feel  and  act  wrong.  Be- 
sides, if  a  man's  judgment  tells  himi  the  right  thing  and  he 
acts  on  it,  his  feelings  will  soon  swing  into  line. 


124  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VII.  HOW  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFER- 
ENT AND  SELF-SATISFIED. 

"Happy  is  the  man  that  feareth  alwaj'^;  but  he  that  hardeneth  his 
heart  shall  fall  into  mischief."  (Prov.  xxviii.  14.) 

"Ye  stiff-necked  and  imcircumcised  in  heart  and  ears,  ye  do  al- 
ways resist  the  Holy  Spirit :  as  your  fathers  did,  so  do  ye."  (Acts 
vii.  5I-) 

"Wherefore  let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he 
fall."     (i  Cor.  X.  12.) 

"Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness :  for 
they  shall  be  filled."     (Matt.  v.  6.) 


PART  7.  THE  SIN  OF  THE  SELF-SATISFIED. 

The  man  who  is  satisfied  with  himself  and  refuses  to  re- 
ceive anything  from  the  outside  is,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
cut  oflf  from  all  g-rowth.  The  very  first  condition  of  receiv- 
ing- any  truth  is  to  be  dissatisfied  with  your  present  attain- 
ment. It  is  the  hungering  and  thirsting  that  make  it  pos- 
sible for  one  to  be  filled.  He  that  neither  hungers  nor  thirsts 
must  always  remain  empty. 

To  such  a  person  one  can  say  that  the  most  serious  result 
of  sin  is  the  consequent  readjustment  of  a  man's  attitude 
toward  it.  At  first  it  seemed  wrong;  but  now  it  seems  per- 
fectly legimitate.  Self-satisfaction  does  not  mean  perfection, 
but  rather  that  conscience  has  been  stifled.  If  you  find  a  per- 
son of  this  type,  you  must  make  him  see  that  the  best  part  of 
his  life  has  been  killed.  A  college  man  at  a  religious  gather- 
ing once  protested  to  me  that  the  vilest  forms  of  sin  were  le- 
gitimate and  proper.  His  conscience  seemed  to  be  absolutely 
asleep.    Another  student  excused  cheating  on  the  basis  that 


HOIV  TO  AWAKEN  THE  INDIFFERENT.  125 

all  students  did  it,  and  it  was  necessary  in  order  to  pass. 
Sin  deceives  us  in  that  it  makes  us  defend  the  practices  of  our 
lives,  which  practices  at  first  we  knew  were  wrong-. 

The  self-satisfied  man  g^ets  behind  the  plea  that  he  is  doing 
his  best  and  that  is  all  that  is  necessary.  But  no  man  is  doing 
his  best  who  does  not  take  advantage  of  every  means  which 
is  provided.  Think  of  the  silliness  of  a  boy  and  girl  who 
would  say  they  were  doing  their  best  to  get  an  education,  and 
yet  refuse  to  attend  a  college  in  their  own  town  when  the 
means  were  provided.  The  man  who  says  he  is  doing  his 
best  and  yet  refuses  to  take  God  into  account  deliberately  fal- 
sifies. He  is  not  doing  his  best  until  he  has  called  all  possi- 
ble resources  to  his  aid. 

Lastly,  to  the  self-satisfied  man  you  can  say  that  the  great- 
est sin  against  love  is  neglect,  and  that  sin  he  is  committing 
because  he  refuses  to  speak  to  his  Heavenly  Father.  He  is 
guilty  of  the  greatest  of  sins,  ingratitude.  "To  watch,"  says 
George  Adam  Smith,  "though  unable  to  soothe  a  dear  body 
racked  with  pain  is  peace  beside  the  awful  vigil  of  watching 
a  soul  shrink  and  blacken  with  vice  and  your  love  unable  to 
redeem  it." 

He  who  will  deliberately  wound  the  heart  of  love  is  giiilty 
of  the  darkest  sin.  This  is  what  the  self-satisfied  man  does 
daily.  By  refusing  to  love  his  Father,  by  refusing  to  turn 
to  him  in  friendly  spirit,  he  is  deliberately  w^ounding  that 
Fatherly  God.  H  he  has  no  other  sin  than  this,  he  needs  for- 
giveness. 

"Hell,"  says  George  Adam  Smith,  "has  been  painted  as  a 
place  of  fires.  But  when  we  contemplate  that  men  come  to  it 
with  the  holiest  flames  in  the  nature  quenched,  we  shall  just- 
ly feel  it  is  rather  a  dreary  waste  of  ash  and  cinder,  .  .  . 
silent  in  death,  for  there  is  no  life  there ;  and  there  is  no  life 
there  because  there  is  no  love,  and  no  love  because  men  in 
rejecting  or  abusing  her  have  slain  their  own  power  ever 
again  to  feel  her  presence." 


STUDY  VIII. 
How  TO  Help  the  Man  Whose  Faith  Is  Unsettled. 

(127) 


128  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God?    Canst  thou  find  out  the 
Almighty  unto  perfection?"     (Job  xi.  7.) 

"For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord?  or  who  hath  been 
his  counselor?"     (Rom.  xi.  34.) 


PART  I.  PRESENT-DAY  FORM  OF  UNREST. 

This  is  distinctly  not  an  age  of  scoffing.  Men  once 
laughed  at  religion  and  thought  it  the  most  foolish  dream. 
The  French  Revolution  banished  Christianity  and  put  the 
worship  of  reason  in  its  place.  One  skeptic  said  he  could 
go  through  the  Bible  and  fell  the  trees  and  they  would 
never  grow  again.  It  was  with  pride  that  one  truly  great 
spirit  signed  himself  "Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  Atheist."  No 
man  of  thoughtfulness  would  do  that  now.  The  age  of 
blatant  infidelity  is  gone. 

Neither  is  this  an  age  of  atheism.  Most  men  acknowl- 
edge that  there  is  a  God,  though  they  may  stop  far  short  of 
the  Christian  conception  of  a  God  who  as  a  Father  loves  his 
children. 

The  present  form  of  doubt  is  not  so  far  removed  from 
that  of  Job.  It  is  a  reverent  uncertainty.  Men  are  not 
sure  as  they  once  were.  The  whole  basis  of  knowledge  has 
been  changed.  Science  has  brought  us  to  feel  that  we  must 
proceed  carefully  from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  Criti- 
cism has  made  us  careful  in  the  examination  of  the  records 
of  the  past.  Philosophy  has  made  us  less  dogmatic  about 
some  supposedly  religious  facts.  Some  men  are  therefore 
deeply  troubled. 

The  point  of  this  day's  thought  is  simply  this :  Unsettled 


HOW  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH.       129 

faith  is  nothing  new.  It  has  always  existed.  But  present- 
day  uncertainty  is  not  irreverent  or  atheistic.  The  person 
who  claims  to  be  an  atheist  is  perhaps  unlearned.  Most  of 
the  men  in  doubt  are  honestly  seeking  light.  They  believe 
there  is  a  power  in  the  universe  which  works  for  righteous- 
ness, but  they  are  not  certain  of  its  attributes. 

The  first  step  in  meeting  and  helping  the  person  whose 
faith  is  unsettled  is  to  recognize  the  form  which  his  question- 
ing assumes.  The  studies  which  follow  will  attempt  to  make 
clear  some  of  the  fundamental  questions  of  Christian  life. 
They  are  put  plainly  and  simply,  in  order  that  they  may 
help  even  the  unscholarly  and  immature.  A  sympathetic 
understanding  of  these  forms  of  uncertainty  may  help  us 
to  reach  a  solution  of  some  of  them.  Tennyson  strikes  the 
keynote  to  the  present  type  of  doubt  in  those  pathetic  lines 
of  "In  Memoriam :" 

The  wish  that  of  the  living  whole 

No  life  may  fail  beyond  the  grave, 

Derives  it  not  from  what  we  have 
The  likest  God  within  the  soul  ? 

I  falter  where  I  firmly  trod, 
And  falling  with  my  weight  of  cares 
Upon  the  great  world's  altar-stairs 

That  slope  through  darkness  up  to  God, 

I  stretch  lame  hands  of  faith  and  grope 
And  gather  dust  and  chaff,  and  call 
To  what  I  feel  is  Lord  of  all, 

And  faintly  trust  the  larger  hope. 


I30 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  Wh}--  are  ye  troubled?  and  wherefore  do 
questionings  arise  in  your  heart?  See  my  hands  and  my  feet,  that  it 
is  I  myself:  handle  me,  and  see;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones, 
as  ye  behold  me  having.  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  showed 
them  his  hands  and  his  feet.  And  while  they  still  disbelieved  for  joy, 
and  wondered,  he  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  here  anything  to  eat?  And 
they  gave  him  a  piece  of  a  broiled  fish.  And  he  took  it  and  ate  be- 
fore them.  And  he  said  unto  them,  These  are  my  words  which  T 
spake  unto  you,  while  I  was  yet  with  j'ou,  that  all  things  must  needs 
be  fulfilled,  which  are  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  prophets, 
and  the  psalms,  concerning  me.  Then  opened  he  their  mind,  that 
they  might  understand  the  scriptures."    (Luke  xxiv.  38-45.) 


PART  2.  OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  MAN  OF  UNSET- 
TLED FAITH. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Hfe  of  Christ  which  is  more  beau- 
tiful than  the  attitude  he  assumed  toward  his  doubting  and 
troubled  followers.  A  man  with  an  unsettled  faith  is  Hke 
smoking  flax,  which  smolders  but  cannot  burst  into  flame. 
Christ  never  rudely  smothered  out  the  spark  that  was  there. 
Instead,  his  kindly  spirit  fanned  it  into  flame. 

How  different  from  this  is  the  attitude  assumed  by  many 
of  Christ's  followers  of  to-day.  I  have  on  my  table,  as  I 
write,  a  book  on  personal  work  in  which  the  chapter  on 
doubt  is  headed  with  the  quotation :  "The  fool  hath  said 
in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.  They  are  corrupt,"  etc.  The 
author  goes  on  to  say  that  most  of  the  doubt  is  due  to  corrupt 
living.  This  is  absolutely  false.  Some  men  do  claim  to  be 
in  doubt  because  they  wish  to  excuse  their  sin,  but  that  is 
not  the  prevailing  temper  of  our  time.  Most  doubters  to-day 
are  really  troubled  and  are  honest.  If  we  are  to  reach  them 
and  help  them,  we  must  recognize  their  honesty. 

Neither  is  it  a  sign  of  weakness  that  a  man  should  be  un- 


HOW  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH.       131 

settled.  The  doubter  is  often  referred  to  as  an  intellectual 
trifler  or  as  an  intellectual  imbecile.  Such  there  may  be — 
God  pity  them ! — but  it  is  certain  that  the  majority  of  the 
men  who  are  unsettled  belong  to  neither  class. 

Our  attitude  must  be  one  of  trust.  We  must  give  them 
credit  for  being  honest  and  sincere,  as  most  of  them  are.  We 
must  treat  them  as  intellectual  equals,  as  indeed  they  are ; 
and  not  infrequently  they  are  superiors.  A  senior  at  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  asked  me  to  have  a  talk  with 
a  freshman  who  was  in  doubt.  I  asked  the  senior  if  he  had 
ever  talked  with  his  friend,  and  he  said :  "Yes ;  but  he  has 
read  so  much  more  widely  than  I  that  I  cannot  help  him." 
I  have  found  unsettled  students  in  agricultural  schools  who 
have  read  and  studied  more  on  the  fundamental  questions 
than  have  Christian  postgraduates  in  the  average  university. 
Intellectually  they  are  as  a  class  really  worthy. 

Neither  are  we  to  treat  these  men  as  enemies  of  truth. 
They  may  be  the  greatest  friends  of  truth.  Luther  was  in 
his  day  a  great  heretic ;  Wesley  was  considered  a  dangerous 
man ;  and  indeed  Jesus  Christ  himself  was  branded  by  his 
time  as  the  arch  enemy  of  truth. 

Read  to-day  all  the  passages  you  can  find  where  Christ 
deals  with  a  man  in  doubt.  See  if  Christ  was  not  sympa- 
thetic.   Shall  we  not  follow  in  his  footsteps? 

You  say,  but  with  no  touch  of  scorn, 

Sweet-hearted  j'ou,  whose  light-blue  eyes 
Are  tender  over  drowning  flies — 

You  tell  me  doubt  is  devil-born. 

I  know  not :  one  indeed  I  knew 

In  many  a  subtle  question  versed. 

Who  touched  a  jarring  lyre  at  first, 
But  ever  strove  to  make  it  true. 

Perplexed  in  faith  but  pure  in  deed, 

At  last  he  beat  his  music  out. 

There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt. 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds. 

He  fought  his  doubts  and  gathered  strength, 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind; 
He  faced  the  specters  of  the  mind 

And  laid  them.  — Tennyson's  "In  Memoriam." 


132  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"And  one  of  the  multitude  answered  him,  Teacher,  I  brought  unto 
thee  my  son,  who  hath  a  dumb  spirit.  .  .  .  And  he  asked  his  fa- 
ther, How  long  time  is  it  since  this  hath  come  unto  him?  And  he 
said,  From  a  child.  And  ofttimes  it  hath  cast  him  both  into  the  fire 
and  into  the  waters,  to  destroy  him:  but  if  thou  canst  do  anything, 
have  compassion  on  us,  and  help  us.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  If 
thou  canst !  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.  Straight- 
way, the  father  of  the  child  cried  out,  and  said,  I  believe ;  help  thou 
mine  unbelief."    (Mark  ix.  17,  21-24.) 


PART  3.  HOW  MUCH  MUST  ONE  BELIEVE  BEFORE  HE 
■     CAN  BEGIN  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE? 

Incorrect  belief  or  no  belief  at  all  is  not  a  matter  of  un- 
concern. It  does  make  a  difference  what  we  believe  or  fail 
to  believe.  Right  belief  has  a  contribution  to  make  to  the 
life,  and  without  that  right  belief  the  largest  character  can 
never  be  ours.  The  danger  of  pressing  this  too  far  lies  in 
the  fact  that  we  may  drive  many  people  into  negative  life. 
If  a  man  cannot  accept  all  the  creeds,  then  he  feels  himself 
excused  from  taking  up  the  obligations  of  the  Christian  life. 
The  attempt  to  make  mien  settle  all  doctrinal  questions  be- 
fore they  become  Christians  has  kept  many  a  person  out  of 
the  kingdom. 

What  is  the  very  minimum  amount  of  belief  that  one  may 
have  and  still  start  to  be  a  Christian  ?  Does  one  have  to  be- 
lieve there  is  a  personal  God  ?  Does  one  have  to  believe  that 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  ?  Must  one  believe  that  the  Bible 
is  inspired?  Can  he  begin  without  having  settled  these 
three  fundamental  questions?  Christ  said  he  could.  "If 
any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teach- 
ings." The  minirauni  of  conviction  is  that  the  Christ  ideal 
is  worthy,  that  it  offers  a  standard  higher  than  what  we  have 


HOIV  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH. 


133 


elsewhere,  and  that  we  must  give  ourselves  to  the  kind  of 
life  that  Christ  offers.  This  is  very  little,  and  yet  it  is  won- 
derfully large  and  comprehensive.  Christ  was  willing-  to 
trust  it,  for  he  knew  that  the  man  who  gave  himself  up  to 
the  ideal  would  some  time  come  to  accept  the  living  reality. 

As  if  to  press  this  point  homie,  Christ  again  and  again  ap- 
pealed to  men  to  accept  his  works  as  having  the  God  quality 
in  them:  "If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father,  believe  me 
not.  But  if  I  do  them,  though  ye  believe  not  in  me,  believe 
the  works."  (John  x.  37.)  And  again  he  says:  "The  very 
works  that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  me,  that  the  Father  hath 
sent  me."     (John  iii.  36.) 

To  the  man  therefore  who  does  not  and  cannot  now  ac- 
cept the  fact  of  a  personal  God  as  verified  truth ;  cannot  ac- 
cept the  fact  of  Christ  as  a  reality  to  which  his  mind  can  give 
assent;  cannot  even  accept  the  record  in  the  Bible  as  au- 
thoritative, but  does  believe  the  ideal  of  Christ  as  we  now 
have  it,  regardless  of  where  it  comtes  from — to  such  a  man 
the  beginning  is  possible.  He  is  very  far  from  being  a  ma- 
ture Christian,  but  he  can  begin. 

The  one  essential  thing  for  a  beginning  is  that  high  moral- 
ity makes  an  appeal  to  him.  If  there  is  that  in  the  man 
which  responds  to  the  fundamental  reality  of  character 
which  Jesus  displays,  and  if  he  will  deliberately  put  himself 
into  the  right  relation  with  that  ideal,  then  he  has  already  be- 
gun to  be  a  follower  of  Christ.  Of  course  he  must  not  stop 
with  this.  If  he  is  satisfied  with  this  little,  that  is  proof  posi- 
tive that  he  has  not  the  honest  attitude.  But  if  he  begins 
here  and  tries  to  make  this  ideal  the  pattern  of  his  life,  with 
mind  ever  open  and  alert  to  new  truth,  he  has  entered  the 
path  which  leads  to  life  eternal. 

Robert  Browning,  for  whom  the  reality  of  Christ  had  many 
difficulties,  threw  himself  into  the  Christ  ideal,  and  finally  he 
was  able  to  write  these  splendid  lines : 

That  one  face,  far  from  vanish,  rather  grows 

Or  decomposes  but  to  recompose, 
Becomes  my  universe  that  feels  and  knows. 

"That  face,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Orr,  "is  the  face  of  Christ. 
That  is  how  I  know  and  feel  him." 


134  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"If  any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching, 
whether  it  is  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  from  myself."  (John  vii. 
17.) 

"But  when  the  Pharisees  heard  it,  they  said,  This  man  doth  not 
cast  out  demons,  but  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  demons.  .  .  . 
Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Every  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  for- 
given unto  men ;  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Spirit  shall  not  be 
forgiven.  And  whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of 
man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him;  but  whosoever  shall  speak  against 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world, 
nor  in  that  which  is  to  come."     (Matt.  xii.  24,  31,  32.) 


PART  4.  THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  TRUTH  SEEKER. 

In  the  last  section  we  indicated  the  minimum  belief  which 
a  man  niay  have  and  yet  start  toward  Christ.  But  to  stop 
with  that  little  would  be  spiritual  suicide.  If  one  finds  an 
ideal  really  worthy,  it  is  incumbent  on  one  to  go  behind  the 
ideal  to  its  originator.  To  ascribe  this  ideal  to  chance  is  the 
worst  blasphemy.  Every  fair-minded  man  must  be  open  to 
conviction. 

Jesus  Christ  healed  a  blind,  dumb  lunatic.  It  was  a  strik- 
ing and  marvelous  work.  The  Pharisees  had  to  find  some 
explanation  for  it.  Human  nature  must  find  an  explanation 
for  facts.  We  cannot  rest  satisfied  otherwise.  So  the  Phar- 
isees said:  "This  is  not  the  power  of  God,  but  the  power  of 
Satan."  Christ  turned  and  sharply  rebuked  them:  "Every 
sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men ;  but  the  blas- 
phemy against  the  Spirit  shall  not  be  forgiven."  "They  had 
witnessed  that  glorious  miracle,"  says  David  Smith,  "and 
they  had  known  it  was  a  work  of  God  ;  yet  they  had  hardened 
their  hearts  and  pronounced  it  a  work  of  the  devil."  This 
was  a  sin  which  could  not  be  pardoned,  for  it  was  a  sin 
against  the  very  Spirit  of  Truth. 

The  man  who  deliberately  closes  his  eyes  to  truth,  by  that 


HOJV  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH.       135 

very  act  destroys  his  capacity  to  find  truth.  FideHty  to  a 
man's  tnith-seekinj^  instinct,  loyalty  to  one's  own  best  in- 
ner light  is  the  absolute  essential  of  life.  The  minute  one 
ceases  to  search  for  truth  or  refuses  to  obey  truth  when 
found  he  is  beginning  to  commit  that  sin  which  destroys  all 
future  possibilities. 

Your  man,  therefore,  who  begins  with  the  acceptance  of  an 
ideal  )iiust  be  lioncst  enough  to  search  for  the  explanation 
of  that  ideal.  The  worship  of  an  ideal  is  not  religion,  and 
will  not  bring  life.  In  no  realm  of  life  save  religion  will  a 
man  sit  down  satisfied  with  a  half  truth,  and  one  does  it  in 
religion  at  the  peril  of  his  life. 

Two  things  the  man  who  starts  to  find  truth  must  do. 
First,  he  must  act  on  all  the  light  he  now  has.  Every  frag- 
ment of  truth  w'hich  he  possesses  he  must  practice  and  prop- 
agate. He  dare  not  wait  until  all  mystery  is  solved.  He 
must  act  on  what  he  now  has.  "He  that  hath  to  him  shall  be 
given."  Action  on  the  little  we  have  opens  the  way  for  new^ 
truth.  "Any  flash  of  insight  into  the  good,"  says  Professor 
Coe,  "however  dim  and  incomplete,  at  once  lays  obligation 
upon  us." 

In  the  second  place,  each  man  must  be  a  searcher  for 
truth.  The  man  who  says  he  does  not  believe  water  will 
quench  thirst  and  dies  of  thirst  with  water  at  his  hand  is  a 
pure  trifler.  He  zulw  says  that  the  Christ  ideal  is  beautiful, 
and  yet  makes  no  attempt  to  investigate  thoroughly  the  facts 
behind  that  ideal,  is  a  thousand  times  more  a  trifler.  It  is 
not  a  sin  to  be  in  doubt,  but  it  is  sin  of  the  deepest  dye  to  sit 
down  satisfied  with  doubt.  Doubt  is  stagnation  and  death 
if  one  becomes  satisfied  with  it.  The  doubter  li'ho  claims 
to  be  honest  and  yet  makes  no  attempt  to  dissolve  his  doubt 
thereby  proves  himself  the  veriest  knave.  He  may  not  ulti- 
mately come  to  see  truth  as  you  or  I  see  it,  but  he  must  get 
out  of  his  negative  mood.  He  must  come  to  some  positive 
conviction.    Anything  less  than  this  is  trifling. 

"We  have  but  faith  :  we  cannot  know ; 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see ; 
And  yet  we  trust  it  comes  from  thee, 
A  beam  in  darkness :  let  it  grow." 


136  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"And  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  Areopagus,  and  said,  Ye 
men  of  Athens,  in  all  things  I  perceive  that  ye  are  very  religious. 
For  as  I  passed  along,  and  observed  the  objects  of  your  worship,  I 
found  also  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  To  an  Unknown  God.  What, 
therefore,  ye  worship  in  ignorance,  this  I  set  forth  unto  you."  (Acts 
xvii.  22,  23.) 


PART  5.  BE  CONSTRUCTIVE  IN  DEALING  WITH  UN- 
SETTLED FAITH. 

Argumentation  is  the  poorest  method  known  for  con- 
vincing- either  yourself  or  another  man.  In  the  midst  of  an 
argument  the  passions  are  aroused  and  the  judgment  is 
thrown  into  the  background.  It  is  always  wise  when  you 
wish  to  get  another  to  see  the  truth,  whether  it  be  scientific, 
political,  or  religious  truth,  to  allow  the  other  man  to  state 
uninterruptedly  his  conceptions ;  then  state  your  own  in 
like  manner.  In  dealing  with  the  truth  seeker  I  have  usually 
said :  "I  myself  have  had  questions,  and  this  is  the  way  I 
found  relief;  perhaps  this  may  help  you  to  find  the  truth 
which  you  are  seeking."  This  at  once  disarms  any  antago- 
nism. In  one  of  the  colleges  some  years  ago  I  met  a  relative 
of  Robert  Ingersoll,  a  fine,  intellectual  fellow.  He  came  for 
an  interview,  primed  for  a  great  argument.  I  would  not 
argue.  I  simply  said  I  took  for  granted  that  he  was  genu- 
inely in  earnest  to  find  the  truth  about  Christ.  I  outlined 
carefully  the  steps  I  had  taken  in  solving  my  own  doubt  on 
that  question,  and  then  asked  him  if  he  would  not  begin  a 
thorough  investigation.  He  agreed  he  would.  A  year 
later  I  visited  his  college  again  and  he  came  for  another  in- 
terview.    When  asked  what  progress  he  had  made  he  re- 


IlOJf  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH. 


^37 


plied:  "1  have  deliberately  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Christ 
is  the  Son  of  God."  Arcyunient  would  have  driven  him 
farther  away.    Constructive  dealing  helped. 

In  this  connection  one  ought  to  caution  the  inexperienced 
worker  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  kept  on  the  defensive. 
Do  not  let  the  other  man  keep  you  answering  his  doubts. 
You  cannot  answer  them  all.  Some  things  can  be  answered 
only  by  life  processes,  not  in  words.  Many  a  man  needs 
to  hang  up  most  of  his  doubts  and  live  positively  on  what 
he  does  believe. 

Therefore  do  as  Paul  did.  Find  out  what  a  man  does  be- 
lieve. It  may  be  that  the  only  thing  he  believes  is  the  reality 
of  his  own  sense  of  duty.  Then  begin  with  that.  Ask  him 
to  think  of  the  meaning  of  this  sense  of  duty,  which  is  uni- 
versal. Ask  him  to  consider  why  man  alone  understands 
the  "ought"  conception.  From  this  lead  him  step  by  step 
into  constructive  thinking. 

I  once  organized  a  large  Bible  class  of  Jewish  students. 
When  I  proposed  that  they  study  the  life  of  Christ  one  man 
objected  strenuously.  I  did  not  ask  him  his  objection,  but 
asked  what  was  the  orthodox  Jewish  conception  of  Jesus. 
He  said  they  believe  him  to  be  a  great  teacher  and  a  great 
prophet.  I  asked  him  if  they  consider  him  as  great  a 
teacher  and  prophet  as  Isaiah.  ''Yes,  much  greater,  the 
greatest  of  all."  "Well,  then,  you  ought  to  know  what 
the  great  man  taught  and  did."  Not  another  objection  was 
raised,  and  the  class  studied  the  life  of  Christ.  But  the  class 
could  have  been  wrecked  if  I  had  taken  the  defensive  and 
tried  to  answer  his  objections. 

Find  out  what  your  man  does  accept.  Ask  him  to  forget 
his  doubts  for  a  season,  just  for  the  sake  of  investigation; 
point  out  a  constructive  course  of  thought :  make  sure  that 
he  actually  does  think ;  and,  above  all,  insist  on  his  living  up 
to  the  standard  of  what  he  does  believe,  and  most  doubters 
will  soon  find  the  light  breaking. 


138  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  VIII.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

"For  when  Gentiles  that  have  not  the  law  do  by  nature  the  things 
of  the  law,  these,  not  having  the  law,  are  the  law  unto  themselves ; 
in  that  they  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their 
conscience  bearing  witness  therewith,  and  their  thoughts  one  with 
another  accusing  or  else  excusing  them."    (Rom.  ii.  14,  15.) 


PART  6.  IS  RELIGION  A  REALITY? 

I  RECENTLY  spent  an  hour  with  a  brilliant  young  professor 
talking  about  the  fundamental  facts  of  religion.  Finally  he 
said:  "I  have  deliberately  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
is  no  reality  in  religion.  It  is  just  the  exaggerated  wish  of 
our  hearts,  to  which  we  have  ascribed  reality."  This  is  not 
an  isolated  case.  I  had  a  conversation  two  years  ago  with 
another  m'an  who  took  precisely  the  same  attitude.  This 
latter  man  I  know  well  personally,  and  consider  him  one  of 
the  cleanest,  truest  men  I  know.  He  is  absolutely  honest  in 
his  belief,  or  non-belief,  as  we  may  call  it. 

This  is  no  new  philosophy.  A  school  of  English  thinkers 
held  to  this  theory  less  than  a  century  ago.  To  them  the  one 
final  reality  was  thought.  Everything  outside  of  us  is  a  de- 
lusion of  the  senses.  There  is  no  God:  and  evil  is  simply 
that  which  causes  us  pain ;  while  good  is  that  which  gives  us 
pleasure.  Living  in  the  midst  of  pain  as  man  does,  he  nat- 
urally desires  to  find  peace  and  soothing.  He  thinks  he  can 
find  this  in  fellowship  with  a  comlplete  being.  So  man's  de- 
sire becomes  the  father  of  his  God.  This  meeting  of  need 
and  creed  Browning  sets  forth  in  "Easter  Day :" 

The  human  hearts'  best ;  you  prefer 
Making  that  prove  the  minister 


HOW  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  UNSETTLED  FAITH.       139 

To  trutli ;  3-011  probe  its  wants  and  needs, 
And  hopes  and  fears,  then  try  what  creeds 
Meet  these  most  aptly — resohjte 
That  faith  plucks  such  substantial  fruit 
Wherever  these  two  correspond. 

And  ag-ain  in  "A  Death  in  the  Desert,"  speaking  of  the 
Christ  conception,  Browning  represents  the  doubter  saying: 

Did  not  we  ourselves  make  him? 
Our  mind  receives  but  what  it  holds,  no  more. 
First  of  the  love,  then ;  we  acknowledge  Christ — 
A  proof  we  comprehend  his  love,  a  proof 
We  had  such  love  already  in  ourselves, 
Knew  first  what  else  we  should  not  recognize. 
'Tis  mere  projection  from  man's  inmost  mind. 

This  whole  question  of  whether  there  is  anything  outside 
us  corresponding  to  our  need  for  God,  whether  these  states 
which  we  call  rehgious  experience  are  real  or  simply  the 
pictures  of  an  inflauDed  imagination,  needs  to  have  careful 
attention.  To-day  let  us  glance  back  at  the  headings  of 
Study  II.  and  ask  ourselves  if  a  mere  imagination  can  give 
us  peace  of  conscience,  can  transform  us  from  self-centered 
to  God-centered  personalities,  can  give  us  a  unified  being 
and  send  us  out  with  a  new  loyalty  which  is  helping  us  to 
conquer  the  world.  Can  a  mere  "projection  from  a  man's 
mind"  do  this? 


I40 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  Vni.  HOW  TO  HELP  THE  MAN  WHOSE 
FAITH  IS  UNSETTLED. 

As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks, 

So  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God. 

My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  for  the  living  God : 

When  shall  I  come  and  appear  before  God? 

My  tears  have  been  my  food  day  and  night, 

While  they  continually  say  unto  me,  Where  is  thy  God? 

These  things  I  remember,  and  pour  out  my  soul  within  me, 

How  I  went  with  the  throng,  and  led  them  to  the  house  of  God, 

With  the  voice  of  joy  and  praise,  a  multitude  keeping  holyday. 

Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ? 

And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me? 

Hope  thou  in  God ;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him 

For  the  help  of  his  countenance."     (Ps.  Ixii.  1-5.) 


PART  7.  IS  RELIGION  A  REALITY? 
(Concluded.) 

Look  back  to  Study  V.,  Part  i,  to  see  what  was  given 
there  as  a  test  of  reality.  Ordinarily  men  accept  an  expe- 
rience as  real  when  a  great  number  of  independent,  compe- 
tent witnesses  testify  to  its  truth.  That  the  vast  majority  of 
the  men  in  the  world  have  testified  to  their  sense  of  the  real- 
ity of  religion  cannot  be  doubted. 

A  second  test  of  reality  is  whether  it  really  makes  any 
difiference  if  the  thing  in  question  is  neglected.  If  a  thing 
has  reality,  then  to  neglect  it  must  make  some  difference. 
Does  it  make  any  difference  when  religion  is  neglected,  and 
does  it  make  any  difference  when  religion  is  cultivated  ?  We 
have  tried  to  answer  the  second  question  in  relation  to  a  spe- 
cific religion  in  Study  II.  We  saw  there  that  something 
does  really  happen  when  a  man  becomes  a  Christian. 

But  is  a  man  poorer  when  he  leaves  religion  out  of  his 
life?  Development  into  the  fullest  personality  is  the  con- 
scious need  of  all  humanity.  The  ideal  for  that  development 
may  vary  greatly,  but  all  men  want  and  expect  development. 
It  is  just  as  universally  recognized  that  man  has  lost  his 
way.     Something  is  wrong.     He  has  not  the  power  within 


HOW  TO  HELP  MEN  OF  VN SETTLED  FAITH. 


141 


him  to  attain  his  full  development.  It  is  a  fact  of  universal 
consciousness  that  fullest  development  can  come  only  through 
the  proper  adjustment  of  the  forces  within  with  the  forces 
without.  Now  religion  is  just  this  readjustment;  it  is  just 
this  proper  relationship  of  the  self  within  with  the  life  with- 
out. And  precisel}-  tliis  is  the  most  real  need  and  the  deepest 
consciousness  of  humanity.  Millions  of  men  testify  that  bv 
this  proper  relationship  they  have  found  new  power  for  de- 
velopment.   To  them  religion  is  real. 

The  only  way,  therefore,  to  set  aside  the  reality  of  religion 
is  to  deny  the  power  of  our  own  inner  life  to  give  us  the 
truth._  If  there  is  no  reality  corresponding  to  this  need,  and 
likewise  to  this  consciousness  of  experience,  then  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  finding  truth.  If  there  is  nothing  to  correspond 
to  the  fundamental  human  need,  then  this  is  a  cheat  world. 
There  is  no  honesty  here.  It  is  precisely  as  if  I  had  eves  but 
there  were  no  light ;  or  as  if  I  had  hunger  and  there  were 
no  food.  If  we  cannot  trust  our  nature,  when  tested  by  the 
experience  of  universal  nature  to  give  us  the  truth,  the  truth 
cannot  be  found.  This  ends  in  nothingness.  There  not  only 
cannot  be  any  religious  truth  ;  there  can  be  no  truth  of  anv 
kind.  This  makes  us  of  all  creation  the  most  miserable  part. 
We  have  within  us  a  yearning  for  truth,  but  we  have  no  way 
of  finding  it,  or  verifying  it  when  found.  No  sane  man  can 
rest  in  such  a  conclusion.  And  yet  to  avoid  that  we  must 
trust  our  natures  to  give  us  the  truth.  If  we  do  that,  these 
natures  tell  us  religion  is  real.  We  must  therefore  accept 
religion  as  a  reality,  or  else  deny  the  possibility  of  finding 
truth.    I  see  no  way  out  of  this  conclusion. 

And  when  man  questioned,  "What  if  there  be  love," 

He  reasons,  "Since  such  love  is  everywhere, 
And  since  ourselves  can  love  and  would  be  loved. 
We  ourselves  make  the  love,  and  Christ  was  not," 
How  shall  ye  help  this  man  who  knows  himself. 
That  he  must  love  and  would  be  loved  again. 
Yet,  owning  his  own  love  that  proveth  Christ, 
Rejecteth  Christ  through  very  need  of  him? 

I  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  God  in  Christ 
Accepted  by  thy  reason  solves  for  thee 
All  questions  in  the  earth  and  out  of  it 
And  has  so  far  advanced  thee  to  be  wise. 

— Browning's  "A  Death  in  the  Desert." 


STUDY  IX. 
Fundamentals  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

(143) 


144 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

"Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling  place 
In  all  generations. 

Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth, 
Or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world. 
Even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God." 

(Ps.  xc.  I,  2.) 


PART   I.  IS  BELIEF  IN  AN  INTELLIGENT  FIRST  CAUSE 
[GOD]  CONSISTENT  WITH  SCIENTIFIC  TRUTH? 

If  we  were  successful  in  our  last  study  in  making  clear  that 
religion  is  a  genuine  reality,  the  next  question  we  will  wish 
to  ask  is.  What  is  the  heart  and  center  of  this  religion  ?  What 
is  this  environment  outside  us  with  which  we  need  to  relate 
ourselves?  Is  it  force  or  is  it  person.  In  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  last  year  I  had  a  number  of  the  brightest 
men  in  college  asking  just  this  question.  What  is  this  force 
in  the  universe  which  seems  to  make  for  righteousness  ?  One 
of  these  men  was  specializing  on  science,  and  thought  science 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  believe  in  God,  so  I  began  with 
him  on  his  positive  beliefs.  I  said  to  him  :  "Science  proceeds 
on  the  assumption  that  there  is  a  tiniformity  in  the  action  of 
nature.  If  I  drop  a  stone  here  it  will  fall  to  the  ground.  If 
I  drop  it  in  China  next  year  it  will  fall  likewise.  The  laws 
of  nature  hold  good  at  all  times  and  at  all  places.  Nature 
acts  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  uniformity."  This 
he  readily  accepted.  Then  I  said  uniformity  is  just  another 
way  of  saying  unity.  In  other  words,  science  proceeds  on 
the  assumption  that  behind  all  the  forces  of  nature  there  is 
one  supreme  force  which  knits  all  together  into  one  com- 
plete and  perfect  whole.     This  he  again  readily  admitted. 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH. 


145 


This  was  one  good  step;  for  while  we  had  not  arrived  at 
God,  we  had  agreed  there  was  a  unity  at  the  heart  of  the 
universe. 

Science  proceeds,  in  the  second  place,  I  said,  on  the  basis 
of  an  intelligible  world, — that  is,  science  takes  for  granted 
that  the  truth  of  the  world  can  be  understood.  The  world  is 
made  in  such  a  fashion  that  ni}-  mind  can  take  hold  of  it.  If 
this  were  not  true,  there  could  be  no  science.  If  my  mind 
and  the  nature  of  the  universe  were  of  absolutely  different 
kind,  then  there  would  be  no  common  ground  and  I  should 
not  be  able  to  know  anything  about  the  world.  But  the  fact 
that  the  world  is  so  constituted  that  it  is  intelligible  is  not  the 
result  of  mere  accident.  There  is  a  uniform  process,  and 
that  uniformity  is  intelligible,  hence  nature  must  be  the 
handiwork  of  an  intelligent  cause.  If  there  were  no  intel- 
ligence in  nature  corresponding  to  my  intelligence,  then  this 
process  of  nature  would  be  completely  incomprehensible  to 
me.  But  since  these  processes  are  intelligible,  I  must  con- 
clude that  the  unifying  force  behind  the  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse is  intelligent. 

This  student  went  away  feeling  that  it  was  not  only  pos- 
sible to  believe  in  an  intelligent  first  cause,  but  more,  it  was 
necessar}'  if  he  was  to  have  any  genuine  basis  for  his  science. 
Science  must  proceed  on  the  basis  of  a  God  that  has  at  least 
intelligence  and  power. 

10 


146  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

"And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me  good?  none  is 
good  save  one,  even  God."  (Mark  x.  18.) 


PART  2.  CAN  WE  BELIEVE  IN  A  GOOD  GOD? 

One  of  the  hardest  problems  that  faced  the  men  of  the 
Old  Testament  was  the  reconciling-  of  sin,  suffering,  and 
triumphant  evil  with  a  good  God.  This  is  the  very  heart  of 
the  problem  in  the  book  of  Job.  And  yet,  as  I  indicated  in 
Study  IV.,  the  Christian  religion  definitely  sets  forth  such 
a  God.  Is  there  any  justification  for  such  a  conception,  and 
what  shall  we  say  to  the  man  who  doubts  it  ? 

There  came  to  m]e  once  for  an  interview  a  college  man  who 
had  been  born  into  a  house  of  infamy,  who  bore  on  his  body 
the  mlarks  of  his  mother's  sins,  whose  life  had  been  one  long, 
hard  struggle  against  this  evil  inheritance,  and  whose  strug- 
gle to  get  an  education  was  scarcely  short  of  a  tragedy.  He 
told  me  his  story  and  asked  if  I  could  help  him  to  see  that 
there  was  a  moral  principle  at  the  heart  of  the  universe. 

First,  one  had  to  go  over  the  ground  of  the  last  study, 
leading  up  to  the  thought  of  an  intelligent  first  cause.  Then 
I  attempted  to  show  him  that  the  religious  nature  of  human- 
ity demands  a  chance  to  worship.  His  coming  to  me  was  an 
expression  of  that  sanie  inner  need.  As  we  have  seen  in  a 
former  study,  there  must  be  reality  in  this  religious  sense, 
else  we  cannot  trust  our  natures  to  give  us  truth  at  all.  This 
I  tried  to  g^et  him  to  see.  Then  I  said :  "Unless  God  is  good, 
there  can  be  no  real  religion ;  for  religion  is  a  sense  of  fel- 
lowship with  a  higher  kindred  power,  with  whom  we  desire 
to  live  on  terms  of  friendship.  But  unless  God  is  good,  there 
is  no  higher  power.  Goodness  is  the  final  term,  and  men 
having  a  spark  of  goodness  would  be  far  more  Godlike  than 
a  God  without  goodness,  or,  as  Browning  puts  it : 

The  loving  worm  within  its  clod 
Were  diviner  than  a  loveless  God 
Amid  his  worlds,  I  will  dare  to  say. 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.        147 

There  cannot  be  any  such  thing  as  religion  if  there  is  not 
a  good  God.  We  are  led  back  at  once  to  our  old  trouble  :  un- 
less there  is  a  good  God  then  all  our  aspirations  for  fellow- 
ship with  such  a  God  are  false  tenders,  paying  dross  instead 
of  gold;  we  are  in  a  false  world,  a  world  in  which  we  dare 
not  trust  our  highest  natures,  which  cannot  be. 

"Again,  if  God  is  not  good,"  I  said  to  my  student,  "then 
man's  petty  goodness  is  the  final  goodness  that  now  exists, 
and  there  is  no  complete  or  perfect  goodness  in  existence. 
The  universe,  in  other  words,  according  to  the  estimate  of 
man's  best  nature,  has  had  left  out  of  it  the  supreme  princi- 
ple— goodness.  There  is  a  canker  at  the  very  heart  of  things 
which  makes  life  useless  and  a  failure.  Since  there  is  no 
principle  of  goodness  at  the  heart  of  things,  then  my  little 
effort  at  goodness  is  useless,  for  there  is  no  ultimate  standard 
by  which  to  measure  my  life,  and  my  striving  like  as  not  is 
in  the  wrong  direction  instead  of  the  right.  Here  again  we 
are  forced  back  upon  the  conclusion  that  if  God  is  not  good, 
we  are  completely  undone  and  are  living  in  a  false  world 
where  we  are  not  sure  we  can  discriminate  between  right  and 
wrong.  But  we  all  know  this  is  sheer  nonsense.  We  know 
we  can  tell  the  difference.  We  are  all  practical  philoso- 
phers in  that  we  act  as  though  there  were  at  the  heart  of  the 
universe  a  principle  of  goodness — that  is,  a  good  God." 
"It  is  more  difficult  to  account  for  life  on  the  supposition  that 
there  is  no  good  God  than  it  is  to  convince  one's  self  of  such 
a  God.    But  how  can  I  come  to  feel  his  goodness  ?" 

I  urged  him,  since  he  saw  that  it  was  more  reasonable  to 
believe  in  a  good  God  than  not  to  believe  in  him,  to  put  him- 
self on  the  side  of  intellect  and  act  as  though  there  were  such 
a  being — that  is,  test  it  in  the  laboratory  of  experience.  If 
God  is  good  and  loving,  then  he  wants  us  to  speak  to  him. 
So  I  urged  my  student  to  pray.  He  is  interested  in  every 
man  and  wants  every  man  to  have  life.  So  I  urged  my  stu- 
dent to  begin  loving  and  serving  his  fellow-men.  Surely  he 
has  spoken  to  his  children  and  has  pointed  out  the  way  to  a 
larger  life;  so  I  urged  my  student  to  begin  Bible  study. 
Finally  this  student  with  the  tragic  life  said  that  he  would 
try,  and  a  day  or  two  later  he  was  one  of  the  men  who  rose 
publicly  and  declared  his  intention  of  being  a  friend  to  God. 


148  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH.  . 

"Bless  Jehovah,  O  my  soul, 
And  forget  not  all  his  benefits : 
Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children, 
So  Jehovah  pitieth  them  that  fear  him."     (Ps.  ciii.  2,  13.) 

"If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  would  have  known  my  Father  also :  from 
henceforth  ye  know  him,  and  have  seen  him."     (John  xiv.  7.) 


PART  3.  HELPING  THE  MAN  TROUBLED  ABOUT  GOD'S 
PERSONALITY. 

The  writers  in  the  Testaments  have  absolutely  no  doubt 
that  God  is  possessed  of  full  personality.  In  fact,  some  of 
the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  set  forth  a  God  with  much 
of  the  limitations  of  human  personality,  and  this  meager- 
ness  of  conception  has  caused  many  modern  Christians  to 
draw  away  from  the  idea  of  God  as  a  person.  Christ  had  a 
distinct  consciousness  of  God  as  his  Father.  All  his  prayers 
to  God  and  his  statements  about  God  are  expressed  in  per- 
sonal languag-e.  The  question  which  arises  here  is  whether 
we  as  modern  thinkers  can  accept  as  reasonable  this  con- 
ception of  divine  personality. 

At  the  University  of  Illinois  there  came  to  m'e  a  postgrad- 
uate student  who  had  been  in  his  undergraduate  days  an 
active  worker  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
But  he  had  begun  to  question  the  personality  of  God,  and, 
feeling  that  this  was  central,  had  fallen  away  from  his 
former  Christian  activity.  Here  was  an  earnest  seeker  for 
the  truth,  who  had  once  believed  in  this  fact  of  personality, 
but  whose  study  had  led  him  afield.  What  could  be  said  to 
him  that  would  bring  back  his  old  conviction  in  a  new  and 
more  vital  form  ? 

First,  I  made  clear  to  him  that  personality  is  not  physical 
form ;  these  two  must  be  kept  absolutely  distinct.  Then  I 
said  to  him :  "We  cannot  make  for  ourselves  a  mental  picture 
of  even  human  personality.  We  can  only  understand  the 
attributes  which  go  to  make  that  personality.  The  attributes 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.     149 

are  intellect,  sensibility  (love,  etc.),  will  power.  Every  man 
is  conscious  of  having  united  in  himself  these  three  in  .e^reat- 
er  or  less  degrees  of  development.  The  conscious  union  of 
intelligence,  affection,  and  will  makes  personality.  What- 
ever being  has  this  has  personality.  No  others  have.  This 
is  perfectly  clear,  and  yet  we  cannot  picture  personality  to 
ourselves.  It  is,  however,  none  the  less  real.  This  my  post- 
graduate finally  acknowledged. 

I  then  went  on  to  say  that  personality  does  not  mean  lim- 
itation, as  is  often  thought  and  as  he  himself  had  said.  On 
the  contrary,  personality  is  a  conscious  union  of  these  three 
attributes ;  and  as  these  attributes  become  more  and  more 
perfect — that  is,  limitations  are  removed — the  possessor 
of  them  becomes  more  and  more  completely  personal.  This 
makes  it  possible  for  Dr.  W.  N.  Clark  to  define  a  perfect  per- 
son as  "the  being  in  whom  these  essential  powers  which  con- 
stitute personality  (intelligence,  affection,  and  will)  exist  in 
perfect  quality  and  degree,  and  are  perfectly  bound  together 
and  welded  in  use  in  the  unity  of  self-directing  conscious- 
ness.   This  is  the  perfect  person." 

This  is,  as  I  pointed  out  to  my  student  friend,  perfectly 
conceivable. 

I  have  a  little  intelligence.  I  trust  my  mind  to  give  me 
fragments  of  truth.  This  mind  is  continually  developing,  so 
that  I  am  much  more  intelligent  now  than  I  was  twenty  years 
ago.  I  can  conceive  of  a  mind,  therefore,  that  has  no  limita- 
tions in  the  realm  of  truth ;  a  mind  that  knows  all  truth  in- 
tuitively. Likewise  I  have  a  love  nature  which  is  growing. 
I  can  conceive  of  a  person  who  loves  instinctively  everything 
that  is  worthy  of  love.  In  similar  manner  I  have  some  will 
power.  I  can  do  certain  things,  or  I  can  refuse  to  do  them. 
I  am  a  moral  agent  with  a  free  will.  Now  I  can  conceive  of 
a  person  in  whom  this  will  is  unlimited,  who  always  chooses 
the  right  and  immediately  acts  upon  it.  Thus  I  can  con- 
ceive of  a  person  w'ho  has  perfect  intelligence,  perfect  love, 
perfect  will,  a  complete  and  unlimited  personality.  This 
person  I  call  God. 

Man's  soul  is  moved  by  what,  if  it  in  turn 
Must  move,  is  kindred  soul. 

— Browning's  "The  Sun." 


ISO 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

"And  he  said,  Thou  canst  not  sec  my  face ;  for  man  shall  not  see 
me  and  live.  And  Jehovah  said,  Behold,  there  is  a  place  by  me,  and 
thou  shalt  stand  upon  the  rock:  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  while  my 
glory  passeth  by,  that  I  will  put  thee  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock,  and 
will  cover  thee  with  my  hand  until  I  have  passed  by :  and  I  will  take 
away  my  hand,  and  thou  shalt  see  my  back;  but  my  face  shall  not 
be  seen."     (Ex.  xxxiii.  20-23.) 

"Behold,  I  go  forward,  and  he  is  not  there; 
And  backward,  but  I  cannot  perceive  him ; 
On  the  left  hand,  when  he  doth  work,  but  I  cannot 

behold  him ; 
He  hideth  himself  on  the  right  hand,  that  I  cannot 

see  him."     (Job  xxiii.  8,  9.) 


PART  4.  HELPING  THE  MAN  TROUBLED  ABOUT  GOD'S 
PERSONALITY 

(Continued). 

In  my  discussion  with  the  postgraduate  at  the  University 
of  Ilh'nois  the  question  arose :  If  God  is  a  person,  and  wants 
to  make  himself  known  to  men,  why  is  it  so  hard  for  m>en 
to  come  to  know  him  ?  This  difficulty  was  faced  in  Job  and 
others  of  the  Old  Testament  writings,  and  is  likewise  found 
in  the  New  Testament.  Vaguely,  perhaps,  even  the  writer 
of  Exodus  understood  that  it  would  be  death  to  human  per- 
sonality to  be  brought  face  to  face  with  the  overmastering 
personality  of  the  Almighty. 

One  of  the  greatest  dangers  of  a  strong  and  masterful 
personality  is  that  it  shall  so  graft  its  will  upon  those  about 
it  that  these  lesser  wills  shall  be  entirely  smothered.  How 
frequently  has  one  seen  just  this  thing  happen  in  the  case 
of  a  boy  or  girl  in  a  homie  where  there  is  a  parent  with 
strong  personality.  The  parent  takes  all  responsibility,  de- 
cides all  questions  in  advance,  and  does  not  advise  with  the 
child  but  settles  questions  by  command.    The  result  is  a  hot- 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.     151 

house  child,  without  iuitiative,  without  power  of  decision, 
without  self-reliance — a  dwarfed  and  stunted  personality. 

If  this  is  true  in  the  case  of  a  human  personality  pressing 
down  too  heavily  on  another  human  personality,  the  result 
of  a  complete  and  perfect  divine  personality  pressing  with 
full  power  on  a  human  being  would  be  a  depersonalized  be- 
ing. If  God  should  press  himself  upon  us,  we  would  of 
necessity  lose  all  our  self-reliance,  self-direction,  initiative ; 
we  would  be  robbed  of  the  very  conditions  which  make  it 
possible  for  us  to  develop  our  mental  attributes. 

It  is  one  of  the  marks  of  God's  concern  and  care  for  me 
that  he  does  thus  respect  my  personality,  that  he  does  not 
force  me  to  choose  the  right.  He  does  not  force  me  to  fol- 
low hinii.  He  does  not  even  force  me  to  know  him.  This  is 
most  remarkable  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  would  not 
work  miracles  with  the  purpose  of  forcing  men  to  believe 
in  him.  He  only  worked  such  miracles  where  they  would 
help  the  growth  of  a  struggling  faith.  This,  it  seems  to  me, 
is  the  very  heart  of  the  temptations  of  Christ.  Should  he 
cast  himself  down  from  the  tower,  or  assume  rulership  of 
the  world,  and  thereby  make  such  a  startling  display  of  his 
power  as  literally  to  force  men  to  believe  in  him  ?  He  de- 
liberately turned  away  from  any  such  procedure,  for  by 
forcing  faith  he  would  have  destroyed  the  personal  lives  for 
whom  he  had  come  into  the  world. 

There  are  some  things  which  even  God  cannot  do,  if  he 
is  to  remain  righteously  self-consistent — that  is,  if  he  is  to 
remain  God.  One  is,  he  cannot  force  another  personality, 
however  weak,  for  to  force  another  is  immoral,  and  God 
cannot  lend  himself  to  immorality. 

Who  speaks  of  man,  then,  must  not  sever 

Man's  very  elements  from  man. 

Saying,  "But  all  is  God's" — whose  plan 

Was  to  create  man  and  then  leave  him 

Able,  his  own  word  saith,  to  grieve  him. 

But  able  to  glorify  him  too, 

As  a  mere  machine  could  never  do. 

That  prayed  or  praised,  all  unaware 

Of  its  fitness  for  aught  but  praise  or  prayer, 

Made  perfect  as  a  thing  of  course. 

— Brown ius's  "Christmas  Eve." 


152  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

'"God,  having  of  old  time  spoicen  unto  the  fathers  in  the  prophets 
by  divers  portions  and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these 
days  spoken  unto  us  in  his  Son."  (Heb.  i.  i,  2.) 

"The  lion  hath  roared ;  who  will  not  fear?  The  Lord  Jehovah  hath 
spoken;  who  can  but  prophesy?"     (Amos  iii.  8.) 


PART  5.  CAN  GOD  SPEAK  TO  MEN? 

At  the  University  of  North  CaroHna  a  senior  came  for  an 
interview.  He  said  he  had  no  trouble  to  beheve  in  the  exist- 
ence of  a  personal  God,  but  could  not  understand  how  that 
God  could  speak  to  men ;  in  short,  he  could  not  believe  the  Bi- 
ble was  a  real  revelation  to  men.  He  was  a  good  student,  a 
worker  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church,  and  evidently  honest.  But  he  was  greatly 
troubled,  for  if  God  could  not  speak  to  men  in  the  past,  he 
cannot  speak  to  us  now,  and  we  have  no  way  of  knowing  his 
will.    What  could  be  said  to  him  ? 

First  of  all,  it  was  necessary  to  show  him  that  we  do  not 
refer  to  oral  words  when  we  speak  of  God  talking  to  man. 
There  are  a  great  many  ways  of  communication  besides 
through  written  or  oral  words.  In  fact,  words  are,  after  all, 
the  very  weakest  of  expression.  I  may  protest  my  love  for 
you,  and  yet  my  attitude  and  my  actions  may  deny  my  words. 
I  speak  with  my  whole  personality,  not  with  my  lips  alone. 
Whatever  conveys  to  you  the  impression  of  my  soul  is  genu- 
ine speech,  and  often  these  impressions  are  too  subtle  for 
words 

"For  words,  like  nature,  half  reveal 
And  half  conceal  the  soul  within." 


FUNDAMENTALS  Of  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.     153 

Then  I  went  on  to  show  him  there  was  no  impossihihty  in 
the  thought  of  God's  speaking  to  me.  This  is  becoming  more 
and  more  clear  in  an  age  when  we  are  moving  out  into  the 
reahn  of  new  mental  laws.  We  are  getting  so  we  are  ready 
to  believe  that  almost  anything  is  possible  in  the  field  of  men- 
tal communication,  and  our  credulity  is  well  founded.  Psy- 
chology is  making  absolutely  clear  to  us  that  one  personality 
may  in  a  measure  commtimicate  with  another  personality 
without  ever  saying  an  audible  word,  provided  the  two  arc 
rightly  related  to  each  other.  This  being  true,  there  can  be 
no  possible  barrier  to  divide  the  personal  God  from  the  per- 
sonal man. 

It  would  be  strange  if  I,  a  limited  personality,  can  speak 
to  you,  and  yet  God,  an  infinite  and  perfect  personality,  can- 
not speak  to  you.  Not  only  so,  but  if  God  is  a  person  inter- 
ested in  his  children,  it  would  be  very  strange  if  he  did  not 
speak  to  them.  This  we  should  certainly  expect  of  him, 
for,  as  Dr.  Illingworth  has  pointed  out,  "Self-communica- 
tion is  of  the  essence  of  personality." 

Tiie  proof  that  this  is  possible  is  just  the  fact  itself  that  he 
has  spoken  to  men.  Men  in  all  times  have  been  convinced 
that  communion  with  God  is  one  of  the  positive  realities  of 
life.  They  are  just  as  sure  of  this  reality  as  of  any  other 
reality  of  experience.  Since  there  is  no  inherent  impossibility 
in  the  thing  itself,  we  must  accept  their  testimony  as  true, 
for  they  have  been  experimenters  in  the  realm  of  spirit. 
The  company  is  large  which  bears  testimony  to  a  common 
experience,  and  they  are  competent  witnesses.  This,  we 
saw  in  a  former  study,  is  the  test  of  reality. 


154 


INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

"He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that 
loveth  me :  and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I 
will  love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  unto  him."     (John  xiv.  21.) 

"And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him;  male  and  female  created  he  them."  (Gen.  i.  27-28.) 


PART  6.   WHAT   ARE  THE  CONDITIONS  OF  RECEIVING 
GOD'S   MESSAGE? 

But  my  student  friend  was  not  satisfied.  If  God  could 
speak  to  men,  why  did  he  not  speak  to  all  men  alike  ?  Why 
had  God  not  spoken  to  him,  since  he  wanted  to  know  the 
truth?  It  was  necessary  to  make  clear  to  him  the  con- 
ditions on  which  we  can  hear  this  voice.  I  tried  to  show 
hirai  there  are  certain  conditions  the  fulfillment  of  which 
alone  will  make  it  possible  for  me  and  my  friend  to  under- 
stand each  other. 

In  the  first  place,  there  must  be  that  kind  and  degree  of 
affinity  which  makes  mutual  self-revelation  possible.  First, 
this  affinity  must  be  moral.  If  my  companion  is  pure  in 
soul  but  I  am  leprous,  there  can  be  no  mutual  self-revela- 
tion, for  there  is  too  little  affinity.  The  best  that  can  be 
done  will  be  to  make  m'e  see  the  long  distance  between  us 
and  perhaps  start  me  back  toward  him.  Thus  we  at  once 
see  that  the  second  condition  of  revelation  is  penitence,  or  hu- 
mility— willingness  to  see  the  good  in  another  and  to  ac- 
cept it. 

Now  this  mutual  revelation  will  be  a  growing  quantity. 
As  I  become  more  like  you,  you  are  able  to  show  me  more  of 
your  life,  which  in  turn  accelerates  my  growth  of  sympathy 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH. 


155 


with  you  and  also  enables  me  to  open  my  heart  to  you.  So 
day  by  day  as  we  grow  toward  each  other  our  trust  in  each 
other  increases,  and  consequently  we  are  able  the  more  fully 
to  open  our  hearts  one  to  the  other. 

This,  then,  is  the  condition  of  coming-  to  hear  the  voice  of 
God.  First,  there  must  be  a  desire  to  be  like  God  in  char- 
acter. "Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled."  Then  there  must  be 
:;hat  trust  which  opens  its  heart  to  the  other.  Any  man  who 
:omes  to  God  with  a  heart  yearning,  who  in  humility  at- 
tempts to  find  the  reality  of  God,  and  who  trusts  God  in  in- 
creasing fashion,  will  soon  find  himself  conscious  of  the  im- 
pressions which  God  is  making  on  his  soul.  If  we  do  not 
hear  God  speak  it  is  because  we  have  not  so  adjusted  our- 
selves to  him  that  he  can  speak  to  us. 


156  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  IX.  FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

FAITH. 

"From  a  babe  thou  hast  known  the  sacred  writings  which  are 
able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Every  scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable  for 
teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  which  is  in 
righteousness :  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished  com- 
pletely unto  every  good  work."     (2  Tim.  iii.  15-17.) 


PART  7.  WHAT  IS  THE  BIBLE? 

A  STUDENT  at  the  University  of  Iowa  came  to  ask  how  he 
could  reconcile  certain  statements  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  seemed  to  him  to  have  a  comparatively  low  moral 
standard  with  the  statement  that  the  Bible  is  a  revelation 
from  God.  This  student  represents  a  very  large  class  who 
are  deeply  troubled  over  this  question. 

First,  of  course,  I  asked  him  to  forget  that  he  had  ever 
thought  of  verbal  inspiration.  A  verbal  inspiration  would 
be  absolutely  useless  unless  God  had  made  a  provision  for  a 
perfect  preservation  of  the  original  documents  and  the  sta- 
tionary meaning  of  the  original  words.  This  had  troublec 
him  in  former  years,  but  not  then.  My  judgment  is  that 
few  who  study  these  pages  will  find  any  one  troubled  about 
verbal  inspiration. 

Then  I  asked  him  to  set  aside  the  idea  that  the  Bible  was 
absolutely  infallible.  By  this  I  meant  that  we  are  not  re- 
quired to  believe  that  no  mistake  can  be  found  in  the  Bible. 
In  order  to  have  an  infallible  Bible  we  should  have  to  have 
not  only  the  infallible  writers  but  infallible  copyists  and, 
what  is  very  much  more,  infallible  interpreters.  There  can 
be  no  absolute  infallibility  so  long  as  every  man  interprets 
the  Bible  for  himlself,  for  no  man  is  infallible.  To  meet  this 
difficulty  the  Catholic  Church  has  set  up  an  infallible  in- 
terpreter, but  most  of  us  think  that  interpreter  intensely  fal- 
lible. "What  we  need,"  I  said  to  my  questioner,  "is  not  an 
infallible  outward  standard  of  truth  in  formal  words,  but 
such  a  picture  of  a  Loving  God  and  a  Divine  Saviour  that 


FUNDAMENTALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.     157 

men  shall  be  able  to  believe  in  them  and  hence  become  new 
creatures.  It  is  not  necessary  that  every  word  in  the  Bible 
shall  be  ri}::;^htly  translated  in  order  to  set  forth  such  a  per- 
son." The  main  thing  I  wanted  him  to  see  was  the  God  in 
the  book,  not  the  form  of  the  book. 

In  the  third  place,  I  tried  to  show  him.  that  the  Bible  is  a 
progressive  revelation.  It  grows  brighter  and  better  step 
by  step.  Christ  said  he  had  many  things  to  tell  his  disciples, 
but  they  could  not  hear  them  yet.  The  purpose  of  God's 
revelation  is  to  teach  men,  and  you  can  no  more  begin 
teaching  men  final  and  ultimate  religious  truth  than  you  can 
begin  in  the  kindergarten  teaching  calculus  and  astronomy. 
"In  other  words,"  I  said  to  my  student  friend,  "God  is  as 
sensible  as  a  kindergarten  teacher,  and  begins  with  man 
where  he  finds  him.  Hence  we  cannot  expect  to  find  the 
highest  and  purest  revelation  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Bible  is,  it  seems  to  me,  the  simple,  beautiful  record  of 
the  search  of  the  hungry  soul  of  man  for  the  soul  of  God, 
and  on  the  other  side  it  is  the  strivings  of  the  eager  heart  of 
God  in  the  attempt  to  make  himself  known  to  men.  If  men 
have  fallen  short  again  and  again  in  the  attempt  to  find  God, 
this  does  not  make  any  less  sacred  the  search. 

Or  to  put  it  a  little  differently,  the  Bible  is  the  report  of 
the  great  souls  who  have  been  experimenting  in  the  field  of 
God.  Men  in  the  Bible  have  gone  to  God,  have  tried  to  find 
out  who  he  is  and  what  is  his  character,  and  they  have  sim- 
ply related  to  us  their  experience.  Viewed  in  this  way  the 
Bible  is  the  most  marvelous  book  of  experience  in  all  the 
records  of  the  world.  In  it  the  Jewish  people  have  shared 
with  us  their  sense  of  God,  and  in  it  men  have  reported  to 
us  their  experiences  as  they  searched  for  him. 

The  Bible  therefore  does  not  stand  or  fall  by  some  theory 
of  inspiration ;  it  has  within  itself  its  final  and  complete  vin- 
dication. It  vindicates  itself  because  it  has  an  advancing 
moral  standard  which  culminates  in  the  final  principle  of 
love.  It  vindicates  itself  because  it  increasingly  reveals  a 
person  which  finds  its  culmination  in  the  complete  and  per- 
fect person  of  Jesus.  It  vindicates  itself  in  that  it  sets  forth 
the  reports  of  men  who,  having  accepted  these  standards  of 
morals,  have  found  power  to  live  in  them  through  this  per- 
fect personality  with  whom  they  found  themselves  drawn 
into  an  ever  closer  fellowship.  The  Bible  is  the  one  unique 
book,  because  in  it  we  live  with  men  who  have  found  God. 


STUDY  X. 
Helping  Men  Solve  Difficulties  about  Christ. 

(159) 


l6o  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye 
not  believe  me  ?"     (John  viii.  46.) 

"But  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the 
angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory:  and 
before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  the  nations :  and  he  shall  separate 
them  one  from  another,  as  the  shepherd  separateth  the  sheep  from 
the  goats."     (Matt.  xxv.  31,  32.) 


PART  I.  CHRIST  THE  PERFECT  MAN. 

In  an  earlier  study  I  have  referred  to  a  relative  of  Robert 
Ingersoll  who  came  to  talk  about  the  facts  of  Christianity. 
It  was  necessary  to  ^o  into  detail  with  him  about  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  you  will  remember  the  result  was  that  a  year 
later  he  said  he  was  intellectually  persuaded  that  Christ  was 
the  Son  of  God.  Here  was  a  man  who  took  nothing-  for 
granted,  so  what  helped  him  may  serve  you  in  dealing  with 
men  who  are  unsettled  about  the  person  of  Christ. 

First  of  all,  I  set  forth  to  this  student  the  fact  of  Christ's 
sinlessness.  Morally  he  was  the  one  perfect  man.  He  was 
convinced  that  the  nations  would  be  judged  in  accordance 
with  their  attitude  toward  his  person.  This  would  be  im- 
possible to  any  save  a  perfect  person.  But  not  only  was 
Christ  himself  conscious  of  being  without  sin ;  the  disciples 
believed  him  to  be  so.  St.  Paul  speaks  of  him  as  "him  who 
knew  no  sin."  St.  Paul,  better  than  any  man  of  his  time, 
knew  the  thought  of  all  Christ's  disciples,  and  he  was  fully 
persuaded  that  Christ  was  a  perfect  man. 

The  whole  world  has  united  in  the  verdict  that  he  was 
sinless  so  far  as  act  goes.    Renan,  the  great  French  skeptic, 


SOWING  DlbPlCULTlES  ABOUT  CHRIST.  i6i 

says  in  his  "Life  of  Christ:"  "We  must  place  Jesus  in  the 
first  of  this  great  family  of  the  true  sons  of  God."  And 
a^ain  he  says :  "The  pahn  is  his,  who  has  been  powerful 
both  in  words  and  in  deeds,  who  has  discerned  the  good,  and 
at  the  price  of  his  blood  has  made  it  triumph.  Jesus  from 
this  double  point  of  view  is  without  equal ;  his  glory  remains 
entire  and  will  ever  be  renewed." 

Thou  seemcst  human  and  divine, 
The  highest,  hohest  manhood  thou, 

is  the  estimate  of  Tennyson. 

Sidney  Lanier  in  his  "Crystal"  calls  the  long  roll  of  true 
and  noble  men — Shakespeare,  Homier,  Socrates,  Buddha,  and 
down  to  Tennyson ;  with  each  name  he  couples  "some  sweet 
forgiveness  of  their  errors  rich,"  but  not  so  of  Christ.  Here 
Lanier  adds  his  voice  to  the  verdict  of  the  world  in  calling 
Christ  the  one  perfect  man. 

But  thee,  but  thee,  O  sovereign  Seer  of  time. 

But  thee,  O  poets'  Poet,  wisdom's  Tongue, 

But  thee,  O  man's  best  Man,  O  love's  best  Love, 

O  perfect  life,  in  perfect  labor  v^^rit, 

O  all  men's  Comrade,  Servant,  King,  or  Priest — 

What  if  or  yet,  what  mole,  what  flaw,  what  lapse, 

What  least  defect  or  shadow  of  defect. 

What  rumor  tattled  by  an  enemy. 

Of  inference  loose,  what  lack  of  grace 

Even  in  torture's  grasp,  or  sleep's,  or  death's, 

O  what  amiss  may  I  forgive  in  thee, 

Jesus,  good  Paragon,  thou  crystal  Christ. 

11 


l62  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST, 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"At  that  season  Jesus  answered  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father, 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  thou  didst  hide  these  things  from  the 
wise  and  understanding,  and  didst  reveal  them  unto  babes;  yea.  Fa- 
ther, for  so  it  was  well  pleasing  in  thy  sight.  All  things  have  been 
dehvered  unto  me  of  my  Father :  and  no  one  knoweth  the  Son,  save 
the  Father ;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he 
to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  him."     (Matt.  xi.  25-27.) 


PART  2.  CHRIST'S  CONSCIOUSNESS  OF  SONSHIP. 

Having  set  forth  the  perfect  manhood  of  Jesus,  my  stu- 
dent friend  finally  said :  "But  even  a  perfect  man  could  not 
be  the  center  of  a  religion."  To  this  I  willingly  assented,  and 
went  on  to  take  the  next  step.  Did  Jesus  claim  to  be  more 
than  a  man  ? 

As  early  as  the  age  of  twelve  Jesus  began  to  feel  that 
stirring  within  his  soul  which  made  him  conscious  of  a 
unique  relationship  to  the  Heavenly  Father.  This  conscious- 
ness grew  day  by  day  and  found  expression  in  almost  every 
discourse.  The  Scripture  lesson  for  to-day  sets  forth  clearly 
that  Jesus  believed  himself  in  his  relation  to  God  to  be  more 
than  a  man.  This  is  more  strikingly  represented  through- 
out the  Gospel  of  John.  The  conscious  sonship  is  for  Jesus 
the  supreme  reality  of  his  life — it  enters  into  his  every  act, 
it  dominates  every  conception.  To  leave  it  out  or  ignore  it 
makes  his  life  practically  unintelligible,  and  at  the  same  time 
makes  it  impossible  to  explain  why  the  disciples  were  so 
sure  that  this  sense  of  sonship  was  for  Jesus  the  supreme  and 
governing  reality.  If  there  is  anything  of  truth  in  history, 
we  must  believe  that  Jesus  and  all  his  followers  were  abso- 
Ititcly  sure  that  he  was  uniquely  related  to  God. 


SOLVING  DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  CHRIST.  163 

Growinj2r  out  of  this  relationship,  Jesus  believed  that  his 
mission  was  to  make  God  known  as  a  Father.  God  throu^^h- 
out  the  centuries  had  been  attempting-  to  reveal  himself  to 
men,  and  Jesus  felt  that  he  was  the  final  and  complete  reve- 
lation. "Have  I  been  so  long-  time  with  you,  and  dost  thou 
not  know  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father,"  "It  is  the  knowledge  of  God,"  says  Harnack,  "that 
makes  the  sphere  of  the  Divine  sonship.  Jesus  is  convinced 
that  he  knows  God  in  a  way  in  which  no  other  one  ever  knew 
him  before,  and  he  knows  it  is  his  vocation  to  communicate 
this  knowledge  of  God  to  others  by  word  and  by  deed." 

The  proof  that  he  was  right  is  found  in  the  fact  that  his 
conception  of  God  is  to-day  (nineteen  hundred  years  later) 
the  highest  and  truest  conception  of  God  that  men  have 
found.  So  far  as  any  man  can  see  into  life,  there  is  no  ele- 
ment left  out  of  Christ's  picture  of  God  which  any  human 
could  wish  to  see  there.  A  Christlike  God  has  come  to  be 
the  highest  ideal  of  the  human  race. 

The  very  God!  think  Abib;  dost  thou  think? 
So,  the  All-Great,  were  the  All-Loving  too — 
So,  through  the  thunder  comes  a  human  voice, 
Saying,  "O  heart  I  made,  a  heart  beats  here ! 
.  Face,  my  hands  fashioned,  see  it  in  myself! 
Thou  hast  no  power  nor  mayst  conceive  of  mine. 
But  love  I  gave  thee,  with  myself  to  love, 
And  thou  must  love  me,  who  have  died  for  thee. 

— Browning's  "An  Epistle." 


l64  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"Now  Jesus  stood  before  the  governor:  and  the  governor  asked 
him,  saying,  Art  thou  the  King  of  the  Jews?  And  Jesus  said  unto 
him.  Thou  sayest.  And  when  he  was  accused  by  the  chief  priests 
and  elders,  he  answered  nothing.  Then  saith  Pilate  unto  him,  Hear- 
est  thou  not  how  many  things  they  witness  against  thee?  And  he 
gave  him  no  answer,  not  even  to  one  word ;  insomuch  that  the  gov- 
ernor marveled  greatly,"     (Matt,  xxvii.  11-14.) 


PART  3.  WAS  CHRIST  AN  IMPOSTOR,  A  CRAZY  MAN,  OR 
WHAT  HE  THOUGHT  HIMSELF  TO  BE? 

But  my  troubled  student  was  not  yet  satisfied.  He  asked 
if  Jesus  might  not  conceivably  be  an  impostor,  or  if  not, 
might  he  not  be  a  crazy  or  deluded  man  ? 

To  the  first  there  were  two  answers.  If  Christ  were  an 
impostor  pure  and  simple,  he  would  surely  have  recanted  in 
time  to  save  his  life.  Men  do  not  play  a  role  that  brings 
death  just  for  the  sake  of  the  role.  But  Christ  protested  to 
the  end,  as  all  Scripture  references  indicate,  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  God.  Not  only  so,  but  if  Christ  were  an  impostor,  we 
would  at  once  be  faced  with  the  problem  of  explaining  his 
character.  Every  student  of  character  knows  very  well  that 
a  man's  thoughts  determine  his  moral  life.  A  man  cannot 
profess  one  thing  and  believe  another  without  suflfering  the 
consequences.  Hypocrisy  eats  like  a  canker  at  a  man's  soul, 
and  sooner  or  later  the  hoUowness  of  that  soul  shows  in  out- 
ward life.  Victor  Hugo  in  his  "Toilers  of  the  Sea"  tells  us 
that  "Hypocrisy  transforms  and  engenders  its  own  hideous 
defomiity."  Everyday  observation  tells  us  this  is  true.  No 
life  can  be  founded  on  a  lie  and  still  be  beautiful.  But 
Christ's  life  was  absolutely  beautiful,  the  most  perfect  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  We  cannot,  therefore,  conceive  of  his 
being  an  impostor.  Psychologically  this  possibility  is  ruled 
out. 


SOLVING  DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  CHRIST.         165 

"Could  it  not  be  possible  that  Christ  was  deceived?"  said 
my  student.  Let  us  see.  Men  are  mistaken  about  some 
things  in  life  and  still  have  balanced  character.  But  are  men 
who  labor  under  an  all-absorbing  delusion  men  of  poise  and 
balance  ?  We  think  not.  When  a  man  becomes  dominated 
by  a  delusion  which  makes  up  his  very  life  he  becomes  erratic, 
unbalanced,  lacking  in  calm.  Buddha,  though  calm,  lost 
his  true  perspective  and  cast  to  the  winds  the  sacred  ties  of 
home  and  set  forth  a  kind  of  system  which  no  man  in  a 
normal  life  could  live.  Buddhism  is  abnormal,  an  abortion. 
Mohammed  became  mad  for  power.  And  so  it  goes  with  the 
men  who  have  been  dominated  by  a  great  delusion.  But 
Christ  was  the  calmest,  the  most  perfectly  poised,  the  sanest 
man  the  world  has  ever  seen.  At  times  they  called  him  crazy, 
not  because  he  was  erratic,  but  because  he  was  so  un- 
selfish, so  calm  in  the  midst  of  turmoil,  so  self-possessed  in 
the  midst  of  danger,  that  men  thought  he  surely  could  not 
understand  what  went  on  about  him.  Any  man  who  reads 
the  story  of  the  Gospels  must  be  amazed  at  the  serenity  of  a 
life  cast  into  the  midst  of  such  unrest.  This  calmness  does 
not  betoken  craziness  or  delusion.  Neither  could  this  pic- 
ture have  been  painted  by  any  save  those  who  had  an  original. 
It  was  too  foreign  to  the  seething,  turbulent  feelings  of  the 
Jews  of  his  time.    It  must  have  been  a  true  picture. 

Nor  can  we  conceive  of  the  splendid  message  Christ  gave 
coming  from  a' crazy  man.  We  have  seen  in  other  studies 
that  he  gave  us  the  final  standard  of  morals.  We  have  seen 
that  our  conception  of  God  comes  to  its  final  consummation 
in  Jesus  Christ,  we  have  seen  that  it  has  sent  forth  men  into 
the  world  to  live  brotherly  lives.  Is  it  conceivable  that  the 
highest  conception  for  all  time  could  come  from  a  crazy 
man  ?    This  seems  impossible. 

The  only  explanation  is  that  Christ  was  what  he  claimed 
he  was,  the  very  Son  of  God,  the  complete  revelation  of  the 
Father. 


1 66  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"And  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dweh  among  us  (and  we  beheld 
his  glory,  glorj'-  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father),  full  of  grace 
and  truth."     (John  i.  14.) 

PART  4.  IS  THE  INCARNATION  IDEA  INCONSISTENT 
WITH  REASON? 

My  inquiring  student  admitted  that  all  of  these  things  said 
about  Christ  seemed  to  be  logical  and  seemed  to  be  substanti- 
ated by  facts.  But  still  he  could  not  accept  the  idea  of  an  in- 
carnation. "This,"  he  said,  "is  opposed  to  all  reason ;  we  have 
nothing  anywhere  else  in  life  corresponding  to  it."  Is  this 
really  true  ?  If  it  is  true,  then  a  man  would  be  justified  in 
rejecting  it.  Mind,  I  do  not  say  we  must  demonstrate  all  we 
believe,  but  I  do  say  that  no  man  who  respects  his  reason 
(and  it  is  God-given)  can  accept  any  theory  which  cuts 
square  across  every  pronouncement  of  that  reason.  Before 
we  can  finally  rest,  we  must  come  to  see  that  the  thing  is 
reasonable,  though  of  course  we  may  not  be  able  to  demon- 
strate it,  for  few  things  are  demJonstrable. 

So  deep  is  this  need  of  an  incarnation  bedded  in  human 
nature  that  the  religious  world  has  continued  to  believe  in  it, 
though  frequently  enough  on  insufficient  grounds.  Even  in 
those  religions  whose  philosophical  systems  deny  the  incar- 
nation idea  the  human  heart  has  found  some  way  to  circum- 
vent the  philosophies  and  find  an  incarnation  in  fact.  This 
makes  us  feel  that  there  must  be  something  fimdamental  to 
human  nature  in  the  conception. 

So  long  as  we  think  of  nature  as  simply  made  up  of  ma- 
terial  forces,  an  incarnation  will  seem  to  be  a  break  in  the 
uniform  action  of  those  forces.     But  we  have  learned  to 


SOLVING  DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  CHRIST.         167 

think  of  nature  as  material  forces  plus  a  divine  personal  will; 
or  better,  we  think  of  nature  as  material  forces  shot  through 
and  filled  with  a  divine  will.  In  other  words,  God  dwells  in 
the  universe  and  permeates  all  things,  and  the  final  reality  is 
not  material  but  God.  If  this  is  granted,  as  I  believe  it  must 
be,  then  the  physical  universe  is  simply  the  expression  of 
God.  God  not  only  dwells  in  it,  but  through  it  we  see  God. 
What  man  of  us  who  has  stood  on  a  mountain  top  and,  look- 
ing away  into  the  distance,  seeing  range  on  range  of  moun- 
tains that  pile  themselves  together  in  majestic  splendor,  as  he 
looked  has  not  somehow  felt  that  he  was  in  the  presence 
of  god  ?  A  deep  awe  steals  over  the  soul,  for  God  is  looking 
forth  in  majesty  from  these  mighty  hills.  Or  what  man  of 
us  has  not  stood  and  gazed  at  a  flaming  sunset  and  some- 
how felt  that  God  is  there?  Beauty  and  grandeur  are  com- 
pletely non-utilitarian ;  "their  one  purpose  seems  to  be  to  re- 
veal God.  The  whole  of  nature  seemis  to  show  forth  God. 
Now  this  is  an  incarnation.  This  is  God  taking  on  material 
form  and  looking  forth  on  men.  One  has  well  said:  "The 
incarnation  idea  is  essentially  that  of  the  unseen  universe 
looking  forth  on  us  from  the  seen."  If  this  be  true,  and  the 
unseen  God  is  daily  looking  forth  on  us  from  the  seen  uni- 
verse, there  cannot  be  anything  unreasonable  in  the  incarna- 
tion idea.  If  God  can  look  forth  on  us  from  material  nature, 
is  there  any  inherent  impossibility  in  his  looking  forth  on  us 
from  a  much  higher  realm — that  of  personality  ? 

The  facts  which  we  have  found  lead  us  to  believe  that  pre- 
cisely this  thing  happened  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
God  looks  forth  from  that  personality  upon  the  world. 


1 68  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"In  him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."     (John  i.  4.) 

"For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  even  so  gave  he  to  the 
Son  also  to  have  life  in  himself."     (John  v.  26.) 

"The  thief  cometh  not,  but  that  he  may  steal,  and  kill,  and  destro}' : 
I  came  that  they  may  have  life,  and  may  have  it  abundantly."  (John 
X.  10.) 

"Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life : 
no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me."     (John  xiv.  6.) 

"But  these  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ ; 
.  .  ,  and  that  believing  ye  may  have  life  in  his  name."  (John  xx. 
31.) 


PART  5.  JESUS'S  CONSCIOUSNESS  AS  THE 
GIVER  OF  LIFE. 

Having  seen  who  Jesus  was,  and  having  made  ourselves 
sure  that  there  is  a  reasonableness  in  his  claim,  we  can  now 
turn  to  ask  what  Jesus  Christ  thought  he  could  do  for  men. 
One  of  the  remarkable  things  about  Christ's  teaching  lies  in 
the  fact  that  he  clearly  identifies  himself  with  his  message. 
He  and  his  message  are  one  That  is,  he  not  only  comes  to  re- 
veal God,  but  he  says  that  in  him  is  the  God  life.  He  not 
only  comes  to  reveal  truth,  but  he  is  the  truth. 

No  other  religions  can  show  any  analogy  to  this.  If  Mo- 
hammed did  not  live,  that  makes  no  difference  now,  for  the 
system  does  exist ;  but  if  Christ  did  not  live  we  have  no  Chris- 
tianity, for  he  and  the  message  are  one.  Mohammedanism  is 
the  religion  of  a  book ;  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  a  per- 
son. When  Gautama  the  Buddha  was  nearing  death  he 
said  to  his  followers :  "Whosoever  shall  adhere  unweariedly 
to  the  law  and  discipline,  he  shall  cross  the  ocean  of  life  and 
make  an  end  of  sorrow."  When  Jesus  Christ  was  ready  to 
ascend  he  said  nothing  of  the  law,  but  "Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  There  is  a  vast 
difference  here.  'Tn  him  was  life,"  full  and  abundant.  He 
felt  sure,  therefore,  that  he  could  pass  that  life  on  to  men. 


SOLVING  DlfnCVLTIES  ABOUT  CHRIST.         169 

The  scientific  student  j^^oes  into  the  laboratory,  and,  taking 
his  formula,  tests  it  to  see  if  it  ^\Yts  the  proper  results.  If 
he  follows  the  conditions  laid  down,  he  gets  the  results.  An- 
other man,  who  tries  the  same  formula  but  does  not  follow 
the  conditions  in  full,  fails  to  ^et  the  results.  He  allows  an 
error  to  slip  in — some  precipitate  or  acid  or  what  not.  But 
if  every  man  who  meets  the  conditions  of  the  formula  finds 
the  same  results,  we  say  the  formula  is  correct. 

The  men  who  have  met  Christ's  conditions,  have  taken 
him  at  his  word,  have  acted  as  he  asked  them  to  act,  have 
always  found  him  to  be  the  life  ^\vtv.  The  fact  that  some 
men  may  have  halfway  followed  directions  and  failed  to  find 
life  does  not  discredit  Christ's  claim.  The  test  of  reality  is 
broad  experience,  and  experience  proves  that  Christ  can  do 
what  he  claimed — give  life  to  them. 

Christ,  then,  is  not  simply  a  perfect  man  who  lived  and 
died  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago.  If  that  were  all,  we 
could  not  be  sure  that  we  would  not  outgrow  him.  He  is 
life  and  the  life  giver.  He  is  the  inspirer  and  imparter  of  the 
highest  and  holiest  life  we  know,  and  hence  cannot  be  out- 
grown. He  is  final  and  unsurpassable  not  alone  because  he 
presented  the  truest  ideals,  but  because  he  alone  can  impart 
to  us  the  life  which  appropriates  these  ideals.  Our  spiritual 
growth  will  not  be  bevond  him,  but  more  completelv  into 
him. 

If  Christ,  as  thou  affirmest,  be  of  men 

Mere  man,  the  first  and  best  but  nothing  more — 

Account  him,  for  reward  of  what  he  was, 

Now  and  forever,  wretchedest  of  all. 

For  see;  himself  conceived  of  life  as  love, 

Conceived  of  love  as  what  must  enter  in. 

Fill  up,  make  one  with  his  each  soul  he  loved. 


See  if,  for  every  finger  of  thy  hands, 

There  be  not  found  that  day  the  world  shall  end, 

Hundreds  of  souls  each  holding  by  Christ's  word 

That  he  will  grow  incorporate  with  all, 

With  me  as  Pamphylax,  with  him  as  John, 

Groom  for  each  bride.    Can  a  mere  man  do  this? 

Yet  Christ  saith,  this  he  lived  and  died  to  do. 

Call  Christ,  then,  the  illimitable  God, 

Or  lost!  —Browning's  "A  Death  in  the  Desert." 

Personal  Thought:  Have  you  ever  given  yourself  over  com- 
pletely to  this  life-giving  person,  so  that  he  could  fill  you 
with  his  own  life? 


I70  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us ;  because  we  thus  judge, 
that  one  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died;  and  he  died  for  all,  that 
they  that  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him 
who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again.  .  ,  .  Wherefore,  if  any 
man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  :  the  old  things  are  passed  away; 
behold,  they  are  become  new."    (2  Cor.  v.  14,  15,  17.) 

"But  they  that  wait  for  Jehovah  shall  renew  their  strength ;  they 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles;  they  shall  run,  and  not  be 
weary;  they  shall  walk,  and  not  faint."    (Isa.  xl.  31.) 


PART  6.  SHALL  WE  CULTIVATE  THE  LARGER  LIFE? 

To  those  of  us  who  have  come  to  know  God  as  a  Father, 
Christ  as  a  Hfe  giver,  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  guide  and  com- 
forter, surely  the  apostle  is  right ;  all  things  are  become  new. 
These  messages  have  been  written  in  the  hope  that  they 
might  give  expression  to  some  of  the  experiences  which 
others  have  had  but  have  not  been  able  quite  to  put  into 
expression.  Through  them  I  have  hoped  that  men  and  wom- 
en who  may  study  them  will  be  impelled  to  go  out  and  report 
their  experiences  to  others  in  simple  fashion,  now  that  ex- 
pression for  such  experiences  has  been  found.  I  am  hoping 
that  by  such  relating  of  experience  others  will  be  led  to 
know  Christ. 

For  a  moment  to-day,  however,  I  want  to  turn  aside  to 
say  that  your  experience  must  be  a  growing  one.  You  can- 
not live  to-morrow  on  the  experience  had  yesterday.  Day 
by  day  you  must  be  renewing  that  experience.  You  would 
not  think  of  trying  to  live  for  all  the  remaining  years  of 
your  life  on  the  friendship  experience  that  you  had  last  year 


SOLVING  DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  CHRIST.         171 

with  your  best  friend.  If  you  did  you  would  soon  enough 
wake  up  to  find  there  was  no  friendship  there. 

Now  friendship  takes  time.  As  I  have  remarked  before, 
it  gains  time  for  us;  but  first  of  all,  it  costs  time.  If  I  am 
too  busy  to  spend  a  few  moments  with  you  from  time  to 
time,  I  cannot  hope  to  find  my  friendship  growing. 

Tne  danger  with  most  of  us  in  Christian  life  is  that  we 
are  not  willing  to  provide  for  the  time  element.  Perhaps 
most  who  have  followed  these  studies  have  again  and  again 
missed  certain  portions  because  time  was  wanting.  I  want 
to  renew  my  plea  for  time,  that  three  things  may  become  a 
regular  part  of  our  lives.  First,  I  want  to  plead  that  in  our 
lives  there  shall  be  a  few  moments  each  day  for  the  study  of 
the  Bible,  There  you  will  remember  we  said  we  live  with 
men  who  have  met  God.  This  is  a  moral  power  in  our  life 
which  we  can  ill  afford  to  miss.  Then  I  want  to  plead  for  a 
few  moments  each  morning  to  be  spent  in  prayer.  Our 
study  has  helped  us  to  see  afresh  that  God  is  in  his  universe, 
that  he  is  a  fatherly  person,  that  he  is  interested  in  men. 
Prayer  does  effect  something,  for  all  these  elements  are  here 
given  to  make  it  effective.  Lastly,  I  want  to  make  a  plea  for 
tim'e  to  be  given  to  Christian  work.  This  is  essential,  if  we 
are  to  giow  in  fellowship  with  God.  He  that  waiteth  upon 
Jehovah  shall  surely  renew  his  strength. 


1^2  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 


STUDY  X.  HELPING  MEN  SOLVE  DIFFICULTIES 
ABOUT  CHRIST. 

"Is  it  nothing  to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by? 

Behold,  and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow,  which 

is  brought  upon  me, 
Wherewith   Jehovah   hath   afflicted   me   in   the    day  of  his  fierce 

anger.    .    .    . 
The  Lord  hath  set  at  nought  all  my  mighty  men  in  the  midst  of  me ; 
He  hath  called  a  solemn  assembly  against  me  to  crush  my  young  men : 
The  Lord  hath  trodden  as  in  a  winepress  the  virgin  daughter  of 

Judah."     (Lam.  i.  12,  15.) 


PART  7-  SUMMARY. 

I  TRUST  we  have  seen  in  these  studies  that  Christian  life  is 
not  something  abnormal,  but  completely  normal.  It  is  just 
our  everyday  powers  and  capacities  reaching  out  toward 
God.  It  is  friendship  pure  and  simple,  with  one  person  in 
that  friendship  a  perfect  and  complete  personality.  This  at 
once  makes  religion  the  most  natural  of  all  our  relationships, 
and  at  the  same  time  dignifies  it  by  putting  it  in  the  place  of 
supremacy. 

In  the  second  place,  I  trust  we  have  found  that  something 
actually  does  happen  when  a  man  becomes  a  Christian.  It 
is  not  simply  a  name;  it  is  a  life.  New  forces  have  been  set 
up  within  a  man  which  make  life  new  and  wonderfully 
beautiful.  For  all  of  this  I  trust  we  have  found  adequate 
causes  in  Christ  the  Redeemer  of  men. 

In  the  third  place,  I  trust  we  have  come  a  little  more  clear- 
ly to  see  the  need  of  men  for  religion.  If  it  miakes  such  a 
difference,  if  men  are  lost,  and  Christ  is  able  to  bring  them 
back  to  life,  surely  here  is  a  call  for  heroic  service. 

In  the  fourth  place,  I  hope  we  have  seen  that  our  simple 


SUMMARY. 


173 


testimony  is  Christ's  one  way  of  spreading  this  kingdom. 
If  men  are  in  sin  and  in  need,  and  only  Jesus  can  help  them, 
perhaps  you  are  the  one  person  able  to  bring  Christ  to  the 
attention  of  some  of  those  men.  It  is  the  chance  an  angel 
would  greatly  covet.  Will  you  not  this  day  covenant  with 
yourself  that  in  all  your  future  days  you  will  pass  on  this 
life-giving  message? 

The  author  of  Lamentations  stood  looking  out  over  the 
ruined  city  of  Jerusalem.  Her  fair  daughters  had  been 
taken  away,  and  her  strong  sons  had  been  slain.  Men  and 
women  were  coming  and  going,  all  unmindful  of  the  broken 
walls  and  the  dashed  hope  of  the  proud  city  of  God.  And 
as  he  saw  the  indifference  he  cried  from  a  broken  heart :  "Is 
it  nothing  to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by?" 

The  young  men  and  women  of  our  land  are  going  into  sin. 
Character,  the  most  sacred  thing  in  the  world,  is  being 
dashed  to  the  ground.  Souls  are  groping  in  misery  and  sor- 
row. I  fancy  Jesus  Christ  looking  down  on  all  this  waste 
and  suffering  and  sin  and  crying  out  to  you  and  me :  "Is  it 
nothing  to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by ;  behold  and  see  if  there  be 
any  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow  which  is  brought  upon  me  ?" 
Christ  has  given  his  life;  will  we  pass  that  life  on  to  lost 
men? 

Worlds  are  changing,  heaven  beholding. 

Thou  hast  but  one  hour  to  fight; 
Now  the  blazoned  cross  unfolding, 

On,  right  onward  for  the  right. 
O,  let  all  the  soul  within  you 

For  the  truth's  sake  go  abroad; 
Strike,  let  every  nerve  and  sinew 

Tell  on  Ages,  tell  for  God.  — Coxe. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Below  will  be  found  two  sets  of  reference  books  which  I  have 
worked  through  with  some  care  in  order  to  give  a  brief  word  of 
comment  which  might  guide  the  student  in  choosing.  Those  marked 
with  an  asterisk  (*)  are  more  or  less  technical  and  useful  for  ad- 
vanced students,  such  as  ministers,  secretaries  of  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  etc. 

Books  on  the  Facts  of  Christian  Experience. 

Begbie,  Harold. — "Twice-Born  Men,"  a  clinic  in  regeneration.  (Re- 
vell.)  The  study  of  nine  cases  of  regeneration  of  a  most  de- 
cided type,  attempting  to  show  that  religion  and  religion  alone 
has  power  to  regenerate  such  lives.  It  is  remarkably  convincing, 
and  will  put  new  zeal  into  the  reader. 

Downe,  Borden  P. — "Studies  in  Christianity."  (Houghton-Mifflin.) 
A  vital  statement  of  the  meaning  of  Revelation,  the  Incarnation, 
and  the  present  growth  of  the  Christian  ideal. 

Coe,  George  A. — "The  Spiritual  Life."  (Eaton  &  Mains.)  A  very 
suggestive  study  of  forces  which  make  for  moral  and  religious 
life.    It  is  both  scientific  and  inspirational. 

"The  Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind."  (Revell.)  A  bold  but  construc- 
tive study  of  present-day  religious  problems,  such  as  "Authority 
in  Religion,"  "The  Christ  of  Personal  Experience,"  etc. 

Clark,  William  Newton. — "Can  I  Believe  in  God  the  Father?" 
(Scribner's.)  The  most  convincing  statement,  in  small  compass, 
that  I  know.    Every  Christian  worker  should  read  it. 

Clark,  Henry  IV. — "The  Philosophy  of  Christian  Experience."  (Re- 
veil.)  His  chapters  on  "Conversion,"  "Repentance,"  "Christ  the 
Life-Giver,"  and  "Faith"  are  exceedingly  suggestive.  They  give 
a  reasonable  basis  for  religious  life. 

*Inge,  William  R. — "Faith  and  Its  Psychology."  (Scribner's.)  Just 
what  the  title  indicates — a  most  scholarly  and  careful  investi- 
gation of  the  basis  and  the  development  of  faith.  Genuinely 
constructive  and  helpful  to  advanced  students. 

Jackson,  George. — "The  Fact  of  Conversion."      (Revell.)      Setting 
forth  the  present-day  reality,  the  varieties  of  form,  and  the  psy- 
chological working  of  conversion.    Very  readable  and  stimulating. 
(1/4) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


^75 


*Jaincs,  IVilliam. — "Varieties  of  Religious  Experience."  (Long- 
mans.) Dealing  with  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  on  the  reality 
but  variety  of  religious  experience.  It  throv^rs  much  light  on  the 
psychological  working  of  sin  and  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  will  re- 
pay careful  study. 

*Knox,  George  IVilliam.— "The  Direct  and  Fundamental  Proofs 
of  the  Christian  Religion."  (Scribncr's.)  Setting  forth  the  finality 
of  the  Christian  religion,  with  introducing  chapters  on  the  test  of 
reality,  etc.    Very  concise  and  satisfying. 

Keedy,  Edward  Everett. — "The  Naturalness  of  Christian  Life." 
(Putnam's.)     Simple,  practical,  suggestive. 

*Rashdall,  Rev.  Hastings. — "Philosophy  and  Religion."  (Scrib- 
ncr's.) "Aids  to  educated  men  desirous  of  thinking  out  for  them- 
selves a  reasonable  basis  for  personal  religion."  This  sentence 
from  the  Preface  finds  adequate  fulfillment  in  the  book. 

*Sfarbuck,  Edwin  Diller. — "The  Psychology  of  Religion."  (Scrib- 
ncr's.) Better  named  'The  Psychology  of  Conversion."  A 
most  painstaking  investigation,  but  based  on  somewhat  insufficient 
evidence.  One  feels  amply  repaid  for  its  study,  though  one  does 
not  always  accept  its  conclusions. 

Books  on  Practical  Methods  of  Personal  Work. 

Bosworth,  Edward  I. — "Studies  in  the  Teachings  of  Jesus  and  His 
Apostles."  (Y.  ]\I.  C.  A.  Press.)  The  most  thorough  and  fun- 
damental study  of  Christ's  method  and  message  that  I  know. 
To  it  many  students  are  indebted  more  than  to  any  other  one  book 
outside  the  Bible  for  their  conception  of  Christ's  message.  Ar- 
ranged in  daily  studies.  No  Christian  worker  can  aflford  to  miss 
the  study  of  this  book.    Price,  75  cents. 

"Studies  in  the  Life  of  Jesus  Christ."  (Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press.)  An 
orderly  arrangement  of  the  life  of  Christ  in  daily  studies.  Schol- 
arly, biblical,  deeply  spiritual,  the  best  course  of  Bible  study  on 
the  topic  to  be  had. 

Gordon,  S.  D. — "Quiet  Talks  on  Personal  Problems."    (Revell.) 

"Quiet  Talks  on  Service."     (Y.  I\L  C.  A.  Press.) 

Hicks,  Harry  Wade. — "A  Memorial  of  Horace  William  Rose." 
(Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press.)  A  stimulating  biography  of  a  real  personal 
worker. 

Holden,  Stuart.— "Th^  Price  of  Power."  (Revell.)  Attempting  to 
set  forth  the  secret  of  power  in  service. 


176  INTRODUCING  MEN  TO  CHRIST. 

Johnston^,  Howard  A giiczv.— "Studies  in  God's  Mfethods  of  Train- 
ing  Workers."    (Y.    M'.    C.    A.    Press.)      Daily   studies   of    Bible 
characters  as  they  are  used  by  God  in  extending  his  kingdom. 
"Studies   for   Personal  Workers."      (Y.   M.    C.   A.    Press.)     Daily 

studies  of  types  and  methods  of  personal  work. 
Jowett,  J.   //.—"The   Passion  for  Souls."     (Y.  M.  C   A.   Press.) 

Inspirational,  impelling  to  work. 
Lamb,  M.  T.— "Won  by  One."     (F.  M.  Barton  &  Co.)    Setting  forth 

the  imperative  need  of  personal  work. 
McConaughy,  James. — "Christ  Among  Men."     (Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press.) 

Illustrations  of  personal  work  on  the  part  of  Christ. 
Stone,  John  Timothy. — "Recruiting  for  Christ."     (Revell.) 
Say  ford,  S.  M— "Personal  Work."    (Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press.) 
Trumbull,  H.  Clay. — "Individual  Work  for  Individuals."     (Y.  M.  C. 
A.   Press.)     A  collection  of  instances  of  personal  work  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Trumbull.     It  is  highly  inspirational,  and  should  be 
read  by  all  Christian  workers. 
"How  to  Deal  with  Doubts  and  Doubters."    (Y.  M.  C.  A,  Press.) 
Trumbull,  Charles  C— "Taking  Men  Alive."     (Y.  M.  C.  A.  Press.) 

Daily  studies  based  on  "Individual  Work  for  Individuals." 
Torrey,  R.  A. — "How  to  Bring  Men  to  Christ."     (Revell.) 
Wood,  H.  W^.— "Winning  ]\Ijen  One  by  One."     (S.  S.  Times  Co.) 


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